Fog puts pay to Liverpool-Arsenal clash
Rafael Benitez's side will have to wait for their match with the Gunners
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Tuesday, 19, Dec 2006 10:43
Tonight's Carling cup quarter-final tie between Liverpool and Arsenal has been postponed due to heavy fog on Merseyside.
Referee Martin Atkinson carried out an inspection an hour before the scheduled 19:45 kick-off at Anfield and declared the conditions unplayable.
The Leeds-based official had already conducted one tour of the pitch half an hour before and, at that point, was optimistic that the hoped tie could proceed provided conditions did not deteriorate.
However with visibility further reduced on his second inspection, Atkinson decided to call the game off.
The game was an all-ticket affair and with the visitors having already made the trip north for the match Atkinson insists that if it were possible to play he would have been keen to do so.
"It is very misty and has been for the last three hours. We have been in the stands, looked round from different angles from a spectators' point of view and the weather is not getting better - you can't see some parts of the pitch," he said.
The competition's organisers now face the tricky prospect of trying to fit the tie into a packed Christmas and New Year schedule.
Both teams are playing twice a week through a traditionally busy part of the footballing calendar and the semi-finals are due to be played on January 10th.
The replay is also unlikely to be greeted with much enthusiasm by either side's management team with both Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger stressing before the game the burden of matches facing their squads.