Liverpool’s preparations for Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie against Accrington Stanley have been disrupted due to wintry weather in northwest England.
The Reds were in action in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Tottenham Hotspur in north London on Wednesday evening and were hoping for a quick return.
The plan was for the players and staff to arrive home that same evening, rather than staying in the capital or traveling by road and being dropped off in the early hours of Thursday morning.
However, conditions meant it was unsafe to land at John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. Instead the flight was diverted to Birmingham and the party site moved back to Merseyside. So it was actually only in the early hours of the morning when players and staff managed to get home.
The times has reported that, given the travel chaos, Liverpool have decided to cancel Thursday’s planned training session, which was primarily intended to be a warm-up session. Arne Slot’s team will get going again on Friday and hopes that the disruption will not have any lasting effects.
Things haven’t been entirely smooth sailing for Accrington either, with the team forced to temporarily leave their training ground this week due to the weather and hold training sessions at an indoor facility instead.
Slot came into the game against Tottenham with a mostly strong line-up, making the 1-0 defeat somewhat surprising for the Premier League leaders given the varied Premier League form this season. However, Slot is now expected to rotate heavily for the FA Cup game against second division opponents.
Accrington’s league form has taken an upswing in 2025, with them winning both league games since the turn of the year and climbing to 19th place in the standings. To reach this stage they knocked sixth division side Rushall Olympic and second division side Swindon Town out of the FA Cup.