Liverpool are facing acute fixture congestion after Saturday’s postponement of the Merseyside derby because of Storm Darragh. Should the Premier League leaders win their Carabao Cup quarter-final at Southampton on 18 December they will have a midweek game every week until mid-February, with the exception of new year.
That would leave them with little leeway in a packed calendar to face Everton for the 245th edition of the derby and the final one in the league at Goodison Park. Liverpool’s next game will be against Girona in the Champions League on Tuesday with Everton travelling to Arsenal next Saturday.
Saturday’s hugely anticipated derby –scheduled to kick off at 12.30pm –was called off at 8.30am as winds of up to 70mph and severe weather conditions battered the north-west and the Met Office issued red warnings for large parts of the British Isles. It was decided the torrid conditions presented a risk to safety.
A statement released by the two clubs said: “Following a safety advisory group meeting at Goodison Park, attended by officials from both clubs, as well as representatives from Merseyside police and Liverpool city council this morning, it was decided that, due to the risk to safety in the local area due to strong wind gusts, and an amber severe wind warning that remains in place until 6am on Sunday, today’s fixture should be postponed on safety grounds.”
Everton said: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank supporters for their understanding. Whilst we appreciate this will be deeply disappointing for supporters, the safety of fans, staff and players is of paramount importance. Information relating to a rearranged date for the fixture will be announced in due course.
“All tickets purchased for the original fixture will remain valid for the rearranged fixture.”
Liverpool also said there was no alternative but to postpone the game: “We appreciate this will be deeply disappointing for supporters, but the safety of fans, staff and players is of paramount importance.”
Everton donated food for the derby to a number of local charities. Some went to Fans Supporting Foodbanks, who would have been collecting donations outside Goodison before the game. The rest was given to Everton In the Community and will be used in their programmes in the coming days.
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Storm Darragh further wreaked havoc in the sporting schedule. In League One, the Bristol Rovers v Bolton, Crawley v Stevenage and Blackpool v Rotherham games were called off after the Championship games between Cardiff and Watford and Plymouth v Oxford had been called off on Friday.
League Two’s match between Newport and Carlisle followed suit after the Football Association of Wales called off all games in its jurisdiction after a red weather warning. MK Dons’ trip to Barrow and Notts County’s home match with Colchester also fell foul of the weather.
In racing, the meetings at Aintree and Chepstow were abandoned due to the strong winds but the feature meeting at Sandown went ahead after a morning inspection. In rugby union, Bristol Bears’ women’s game against Exeter Chiefs at Ashton Gate was scrapped after a pitch inspection.
Source: theguardian.com
