Yesterday was one of the most important days of my life, following Spurs for the best part of 14 years I’ve grown up on White Hart Lane, the Paxton, the Shelf Side, the Park Lane these were the surroundings that I grew up on and were some of the many things that made me fall in love with football.

After a two years away from Tottenham, playing at Wembley, I made the trip back to N17 for the first time in two seasons to feast my love struck eyes upon the The new White Hart Lane.

My first experience of my new surroundings was a pleasant yet dramatic one. John McGinn’s early opener for newly promoted Aston Villa had me fearing the worse yet a brilliant second-half equaliser from debutant Tanguy Ndombele and a late brace from Harry Kane saw Spurs claim all three points on opening day.

My man of the match could’ve easily gone for Jack Grealish had it not been for his error which led to the winning goal from Kane late on, however my man of the match is an Aston Villa player, Tyrone Mings. At 1-0 down it felt like every time we had the ball it had to be Mings either getting on the end of it or in front of it, a brilliant addition who will be integral to Aston Villa this season who will beat the drop.

Atmosphere:

Opening day of the season is always good for atmosphere, months waiting for a meaningful and competitive game and it was no different pre-game with Spurs fans getting behind the team whilst the few thousand Villa fans were giving a good account of themselves on their return to the Premier League.

However, the home atmosphere tailed off as John McGinn’s early strike left the White Hart Lane faithful stunned.

The home atmosphere picked up in the second half as Pochettino’s side asserted more pressure on Aston Villa, and raised significantly when Spurs were on level terms. For the last 20 minutes of the game, the atmosphere was good but due to the patchy and inconsistent noise during a nervy opening half I will give the atmosphere a 3.5/5.

Cost:

For the Matchday ticket, I had to fork out £45. Whilst this may sound like a lot of money it’s just the standard rate of football tickets in 2019, with some second tier sides charging £30 per game I felt this was just standard rate, so I am going to give cost a 3/5

Entertainment:

Opening day is always a cagey affair, with both sides wanting to get off to a good start and not show too much weakness ahead of a long campaign.

Aston Villa’s early lead made the game a much more entertaining prospect as it forced Tottenham’s hand to become more expressive and attacking which allowed Villa the opportunity for the occasional counter.

Despite being defensively solid for the majority of the game Villa were not afraid to attack Spurs when the opportunity arose, whilst Pochettino’s side also tested Tom Heaton on various occasions.

I saw many chances at each end, some great saves, some great last ditch challenges and four good goals so I am going to give entertainment a 4/5.

Food:

With a new stadium the architecture is often the main factor of the venue (for obvious reasons) yet Spurs offer the longest running single sporting bar in Europe as well as various food stands situated around the ground which are all sensibly priced and opened until 11pm on a Matchday.

The food was sensibly priced at £2.50 and was excellent value for money so I am going to give food a very impressive 4/5.

Facilities:

Wow, what can I say which hasn’t already been said by people before? It really is a truly elite sporting venue and as a Spurs fan I could not be more impressed or more in awe of the stadium. It represents the next step of Tottenham and truly highlights the clubs ever growing status in the footballing world whilst retaining the core values and sheer nostalgia that made White Hart Lane such a special and sentimental place.

With multiple food stands and bars that are open until 11pm on a Matchday allows fans to have the most enhanced Matchday experience whilst not tapping into the archetypal world of Modern Football.

Taking my spurs hat off for a second, I can honestly say that is a truly elite stadium and represents the strides made by Tottenham.

Facilities undoubtedly gets a 5/5.

Overall I will give the Tottenham Hotspur stadium a 19.5/25 taking it top of the leaderboards.