A February midweek fixture looks the most likely of the few options available for the rearranged Merseyside derby
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Jarrad Branthwaite of Everton celebrates scoring his team's first goal with Abdoulaye Doucoure during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Liverpool FC at Goodison Park on April 24. Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images
Jarrad Branthwaite celebrates scoring his team's first goal with Abdoulaye Doucoure during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Liverpool FC at Goodison Park on April 24. Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images
The last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park will almost certainly take place under the lights after the decision to postpone the original fixture due to severe weather.
Everton were due to host Liverpool in the lunchtime kick-off this weekend but the high winds brought by Storm Darragh led to the match being called off due to safety concerns.
Unless both clubs fall to home defeats to Football League opposition in the third round of the FA Cup (which would potentially free up the weekend of February 8), there are only two available weekends left before the end of the season. They are reserved for the fifth round and quarter-finals of the FA Cup though, so progress by either club would render those dates unavailable.
READ MORE: When Liverpool game at Everton can be played as most likely Premier League dates emergeREAD MORE: How Everton and Liverpool came to postponement decision after early morning talks at Goodison Park
Beyond that, only midweek slots are free. How many largely depends on how well Liverpool do in the Champions League and Carabao Cup. Should Liverpool overcome Southampton in the Carabao Cup later this month then they will face a two-legged semi-final, the second game of which would take place around February 5.
That would make the first potential dates for a rearranged derby to be in the week after the FA Cup fourth round on February 8 or in the week after the Premier League games on February 15, when Liverpool face Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton travel to Crystal Palace. Those two midweek slots are scheduled to host Champions League football but Liverpool look set to avoid those first knockout games by qualifying directly for the last 16 of the competition.
Should they do so - and a win over Girona this week would confirm that - then those February slots (around Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 and Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19) look the most likely dates for the rearranged fixture.
If they were to be deemed unsuitable then the calendar would depend on how far Liverpool get in the Champions League. Should they make the quarter-finals then the midweek of Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday 23 could be an alternative date. Only if Liverpool were to make the semi-finals and all of those previous dates prove unsuitable would the derby need to be played in the final fortnight of the campaign, rendering the chances of the game ending up in the final week of the season, and therefore becoming Goodison’s final match, unlikely.