Everton's opening Premier League game with Tottenham Hotspur has been postponed.
Following discussions with Haringey Council and the Metropolitan Police, the Premier League took the decision to call off Saturday's game at White Hart Lane due to this week's UK riots.
Disturbances broke out throughout Tottenham on Saturday night and were followed by scenes across London and indeed the country in the cities of Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.
"The very latest is that we will lose the Tottenham-Everton game," said Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League.
"In fairness to the police, they have done a fantastic job but they are unable to hand the Tottenham High Road, which as people will have seen has been pretty much a crime scene for much of this week. They are unable to hand that back to the council until Friday night.
"That doesn't give the council enough time to do what they need to do to clean it up and get a safety certificate issued.
"That is a regret but the other nine fixtures are looking positive."
Several Everton players took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the cancellation following the announcement, but also support for the communities affected by the riots.
Louis Saha wrote: "Game Off vs Spurs. Surely for a very good reason.
"Hope the one who suffered from the warzone will recover quick. My prayers are with them."
Midfielder Tim Cahill added: "If the game's 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."
A new date for the fixture has yet to be arranged but tickets purchased for the original game will remain valid.
Yesterday, several players and manager David Moyes joined local rivals Liverpool in calling for an end to the disturbances that had taken hold of the city over the previous 48 hours.
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