Saturday's Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool was postponed when adverse weather conditions impacted the safety of supporters and players travelling to Goodison Park.
The highly-anticipated clash was expected to be the first of the Premier League weekend, putting league leaders Liverpool against local rivals Everton. However, the Toffees announced on Saturday morning that the clash would have to be postponed when a storm, refereed to as Storm Darragh, swept across the nation.
Warnings on Friday evening raised doubts over whether the weekend's meeting would be able to go ahead, with local police advising against any non-essential travel in the area.
After their initial statement on Saturday morning, Everton later explained why the Reds' visit had to be delayed.
James Tarkowski
Everton will not host Liverpool on 7 December / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages
A message from the club read, "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.
"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's short visit to Everton was expected to be their last at Goodison Park before the Toffees leave their current home at the end of the 2024/25 campaign. Everton triumphed 2-0 over the Reds during their last home Merseyside derby in April and would've hoped to knock their rivals down the pecking order in December's meeting.
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