Liverpool have been claimed to be “favourites” for a Brazilian centre-back, while Man City fans have been warned about tragedy chanting ahead of Liverpool’s visit.
Tragedy chanting remains all too common up and down the country, and ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Man City, the hosts have emailed their fans over their conduct and will have announcements over the tannoy on Saturday.
Spirit of Shankly attended a police briefing ahead of the fixture and released a statement ahead of the trip to the Etihad:
As has been the case recently, this fixture is deemed ‘high risk’. The stated aim of the police is to reduce this and make it safe enough so that it doesn’t have to be a 12.30 lunch-time kick-off.
Before entering the stadium, the usual soft-ticket checks will be in place with electronic readers and pat-downs at the turnstiles. Once inside, there will be 22 LFC stewards, plus police spotters, in home and away ends, looking out for coin/missile throwing.
Tragedy chanting will be actively policed and stewarded. There was a commitment from MCFC to eradicate this by encouraging staff to take positive action. A pre-match briefing to police and stewards will include comms from LFC plus the recent video shot with a segment from Margaret Aspinall.
Information has already been sent to City fans on this issue and will be highlighted on Saturday over the Tannoy and scoreboard. This is a positive step.
We asked that City put out comms to supporters regarding the “always the victim” chants, but they said they would need to discuss and would update us.
An anonymous text number will be available to report any issues, specifically tragedy chanting or coin/missile throwing.
It’s the big one on Saturday, there’s nerves kicking about already and thoughts about how Klopp will set up his team.
We got the view of two Liverpool legends, Phil Thompson and Jan Molby, on four big decisions that need to be made – safe to say, they were divided! Take a look in the video below.
There’s two offerings that you might fancy tonight. Rotherham hosts Leeds in the Championship (8pm GMT), might be a good chance to watch Archie Gray after recent links to the 17-year-old.
And there’s a good chance Harry Kane will add to his goal tally as Bayern meet Koln in the Bundesliga, from 7.30pm.
Enjoy your evening, Reds. See you tomorrow for the big clash!
