Image Credits: Imago Images
Liverpool’s Thursday evening showdown with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium could be influenced by adverse weather conditions as Storm Goretti prepares to hit southern England.
The Met Office has issued multiple weather warnings across the UK this week, with Storm Goretti set to bring a “multi-hazard event” featuring heavy snow, strong winds and torrential rain. The timing could hardly be worse for football fans, with the storm expected to make landfall just hours before the 8pm kick-off in north London.
Already, the English football calendar has been decimated by freezing conditions in recent days. Over the weekend, 17 EFL matches were postponed due to frozen pitches and unsafe conditions, including Championship clashes between Sheffield United and Oxford United, Portsmouth and Ipswich, and Hull City against Watford. League One and League Two bore the brunt of the disruption, with fixtures at Doncaster, Rotherham, Notts County, Walsall and numerous others falling victim to the bitter cold snap.
Met Office Chief Forecaster Neil Armstrong warned: “Storm Goretti will be a multi-hazard event, with the most significant impacts from snow in parts of Wales and the Midlands, though rain and strong winds also have the potential to bring disruption to many.”
“Goretti will bring snow on its northern edge, this most likely over Wales and the Midlands. Here accumulations of 5-10cm are likely widely, with 15-25cm in some places, especially hills, and perhaps up to 30cm very locally. An Amber warning has been issued where the greatest risk of disruption is likely on Thursday night into Friday morning.”
However, for Liverpool fans making the trip south, London currently sits just outside the main area of concern. Yellow warnings for snow cover much of southern England from 6pm Thursday, but the capital is expected to see mostly rain rather than significant snowfall.
Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium also benefits from undersoil heating to prevent the pitch from freezing.
Despite the concerning headlines, the consensus is that Arsenal versus Liverpool will go ahead as planned. The Emirates falls outside the worst-affected zones, and Premier League matches are rarely postponed—regulations state that the benefit of the doubt is usually given in favour of playing, given the logistical and financial implications of rescheduling.
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