Tottenham’s match against Everton postponed due to riots

The game at White Hart Lane has been called off due to unrest in London, but Richard Scudamore believes other fixtures are "looking positive" after disruption across England

Tottenham's season opener against Everton has been postponed due to riots in London.

Midweek League Cup matches at West Ham United, Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace were postponed and England's international friendly against the Netherlands on Wednesday was cancelled. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has now confirmed that the match between Tottenham and Everton will also be postponed.

"The very latest situation is we know, and it’s only just been announced in the last couple of minutes, that we’re going to lose the Tottenham-Everton game," he said, at the launch of the Premier League season. "In fairness to the police they’ve done a fantastic job but they are unable to hand Tottenham High Road, which has been - as you’ve seen from the pictures – pretty much a crime scene for parts of this week, and they’ve been unable to hand that back to the council until Friday night."<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/gna.enus/level2;tile=3;sz=160x600;ord=615396?area=2l&pos=2&league=epl&ord=615396"></script>

However, Scudamore did seem positive about the rest of the league being able to play despite loosing the one match being canceled.

"That’s obviously a regret, but the other nine fixtures at the minute over the weekend are looking positive."

Prior to the decision, Everton's Tim Cahill had admitted that he was open to the idea of postponing the opening game of the season, while Tottenham's Younes Kaboul, Heurelho Gomes and Rafael van der Vaart had all expressed their concerns.

Tottenham defender Michael Dawson revealed his disappointment that the game would not go ahead, but respected the decision.

"We worked for six weeks to try and get fit and unfortunately the first game of the season is not going to be happening for us," he said. "But the most important thing is the safety. The police wouldn’t have called it off too lightly, and as I say the safety is the most important thing for everyone involved."

Cahill said on his Twitter page: "If the games called off then it's understandable due to sad events. It's more important that the people are safe, as much as we all love footy."

Scudamore has maintained a positive outlook on the remaining fixtures, but insisted that the situation would be subject to whether or not there would be any more unrest, with a decision expected to be made later on Thursday.

"Obviously it’s all subject to anymore trouble and we’re working with the police, and there will be more announcements throughout the day," Scudamore said. "Certainly by six o’clock tonight we’re going to have a very clear picture, but [it is]looking at the minute that nine [matches] will be on but we’ve certainly lost the Tottenham game, which is a real shame."

Scudamore was also complementary of the police and the efforts to make the city safe again, and said that the league would support the authorities in whatever decisions are made.

"Full credit to the police, we ultimately respect their decision, and ultimately it will be their decision in all of these matters and we support them with what they’re doing. They want these games to go on as much as we do but obviously it’s inevitable that it can’t be done we have to support that."