The Lilywhites had hoped to host the Reds at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 15, but it will not be ready in time

Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed the completion of their new stadium has been delayed with a new date for its opening yet to be announced.

After the release of the Premier League fixtures in July, Spurs revealed their home match on September 15 against Liverpool would be the first back at N17.

However, in a statement this evening Tottenham will now play the clash with the Reds at Wembley and their home fixture against Cardiff City on October 6 at the national stadium too.

The NFL match scheduled for October 14 at Spurs’ new 62,062-seater venue will now take place at Wembley too.

A statement on the official club website read: “Following the release of the Premier League fixtures for the 2018/19 season, we announced that, barring any significant issues with the final stages of stadium completion, our match against Liverpool on 15 September would be the first match in our new stadium.

“Recent testing and commissioning has now shown issues with the critical safety systems. Urgent follow-up meetings with Mace and the trade contractors are now taking place.

“We are reviewing the situation and planned timetable to rectify and re-test, after which we shall be in a better position to outline a revised timetable.

“The delays created by these difficulties mean that we can no longer hold the necessary Test Events on 27 August and 1 September.

“These will need to be rescheduled to take place ahead of any first official match at the new stadium in order to achieve the safety licence.

“In the meantime, therefore, our upcoming Premier League matches against Liverpool (15 September) and Cardiff City (6 October) will be switched to Wembley, as will the NFL match scheduled for 14 October.”

Chairman, Daniel Levy, said: “We know this will be disappointing for all our season tickets holders, premium members and our fans worldwide.

“We appreciate the support our partner the NFL has shown since the extent of this issue became evident today.

“At the start of the project we asked for your support during what we knew would be a complex and challenging build and now we ask for your continued patience and forbearance.”

Mark Waller, NFL Executive Vice-President International, said: “Everyone has been so excited about the prospect of playing in the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and I know all at the Club are very disappointed, but determined to clear this final hurdle.

“We totally understand the issue. We shall continue to work with them towards making our future games at Spurs a huge success.

“The new stadium will be an amazing venue for the NFL and we are very excited about our long-term partnership with Tottenham Hotspur.”

Spurs’ statement concluded: “Both domestic and European cup game venues will be determined following discussions with the relevant organising bodies. We shall provide a further update in due course, along with ticketing details.”

As things stand, the first match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium may be on October 28 against Manchester City or potentially the November 24 fixture with Chelsea.