Smaller than Emirates Stadium? Why Tottenham may struggle to fill 62,062 capacity at £1bn new home

1/91

Tottenham are unlikely to completely fill their new 62,062-capacity stadium in the future because of segregation of supporters.

A number of Spurs fans who could not get tickets for last night's sold-out opening game, a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, were left dismayed when the club revealed the official attendance of 59,215.

One supporter wrote on Twitter: "A slap in the face to all those that couldn’t get tickets."

Another wrote: "How can that be, it sold out ages ago!"

But there was barely an empty seat in the house and the club insist there were no tickets left, with the remaining seats given over to keeping supporters apart.

The front two rows of the north stand were empty, however, although it is unclear if this was related to segregation requirements.

The total figure was also reduced somewhat because some of the stadium's premium options, including the Sky Lounge, are not yet open.

The official attendance at the Emirates for Arsenal's 2-0 win over Newcastle United on Monday was 59,869 – although the Gunners count tickets sold and Spurs count supporters through the turnstiles.

The Emirates holds 60,020 when full, leaving Spurs with some 2000 more seats.

The rivalry between the two clubs has increased in the last few weeks after Spurs took one point from five matches before Palace to leave them in a scrap for two places in top four with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Arsenal's win over the Magpies briefly lifted them into third, above Spurs, although Mauricio Pochettino's side leapfrogged their rivals last night, albeit having played a game more.

Spurs finished above Arsenal for the first time in 22 years in 2016-17 and again last season, but Toby Alderweireld has insisted that they are not focussed on north London supremacy.

"We don't look at other teams," he said, when asked about the battle for bragging rights.

"We want to finish in the top four. We want to have Champions League football next season. We're improving in the Champions League and with this stadium, this group it's important to get top four so we'll do everything we can to do that.

"We're only in power of our own performances. It's in our hands and we have to put in a good performances to get the points."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in