Premier League block plans for Tottenaham to make pitch smaller

Tottenham's plans to reduce the size of the Wembley pitch have been blocked by the Premier League.

Next season Tottenham will play their home matches at Wembley while their new £800million home is built for the start of the 2018 - 19 season.

Mauricio Pochettino's side played five times at Wembley last season in Europe and the FA Cup, but only won one of those matches. The club claim that part of their problems at Wembley was the size of the pitch which doesn't suit their high-pressing game. The pitch at White Hart Lane was the second smallest in the league at 100m by 67m, whilst Wembley's pitch is 100m by 69m.

Two years ago the Premier League introduced rules to standardise pitches at 100m by 68m. The only pitches that are allowed to be smaller are those that are older grounds such as like White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge where there isn't room to extend the pitch outwards. However, Wembley does have the space to meet the Premier League's minimum requirement for a pitch and because of this Tottenham won't be allowed to make the dimensions any smaller, although they could request it to be reduced from 69m to 68m, per the league's rules.

JC.