It has been confirmed that Liverpool will play matches against Everton, Arsenal, and Manchester United in front of smaller crowds at Anfield.
The upper deck of the stand will remain closed for home matches for the balance of 2023, according to the ‘frustrating’ news that was revealed by CEO Billy Hogan on Thursday. This is due to delays with the Anfield Road project.
According to estimates, the Reds are losing out on about £750,000 every game as a result of having to play in front of a smaller audience due to the redevelopment work.
When complete, the addition will increase Anfield’s capacity to 61,000, making it one of the biggest Premier League venues. Although the project was initially planned to be completed for the start of the 2023–24 season, delays brought on by the original contractors, the Buckingham Group, declaring bankruptcy have resulted in Liverpool having only around 50,000 fans attend home games so far this season.
With some important contests coming up, that level of attendance is expected to remain for the foreseeable future, but which games will be affected by the news?
REMAINSING LIVERPOOL FIXTURES IN 2023
The nine games currently planned to be held at Anfield before the end of 2023 are listed below:
Everton, October 21 (Premier League)
Toulouse, October 26 (Europa League)
Nottingham Forest, October 29 (Premier League)
Brentford, November 12 (Premier League)
LASK, November 30 (Europa League)
Fulham, December 2 (Premier League)
Manchester United, December 16 (Premier League)
Arsenal, December 23 (Premier League)
Newcastle, December 30 (Premier League)
In the event that Liverpool defeats Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on November 1, it should be highlighted that additional fixtures could be added to that schedule, with the quarterfinals of the competition set for the week beginning December 18.
Additionally, CEO Hogan resisted offering a particular target date for the complete reopening of the upper tier of the Anfield Road stand, which suggests that matches in 2024 may also be impacted.
Before setting a new project timeframe, Hogan stated that “Rayner Rowen, the new contractors, “really needs the time to finish the information gathering.
“It’s just not practical at this point to put a new timeframe in place because there are so many different, many aspects that are going into this conversation and into this evaluation, so many pieces of the jigsaw that we need to put together. Furthermore, we don’t want to create unwarranted expectations.
“Therefore, we are continuing to collaborate closely with all of those various stakeholders, but in the end, we need to allow them time to compile all of that information and develop a realistic schedule for project completion. Additionally, we are devoted to providing supporters with as much information as we can.”