It has been revealed that Liverpool will ‘not able to play’ their quarter-final clash in December unless there are fixtures changes.
Jurgen Klopp’s side had to beat Arsenal on penalties following a thrilling 5-5 draw in their fourth round match last night.
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The quarter-finals to be played the week commencing 16 December, which clashes with Liverpool taking part in the Club World Cup on 18 December.
The EFL say they are in talks with the Reds to identify an alternative date for their game with Aston Villa.
Klopp said: “If they don’t find a place for us, an appropriate place, not 3am on Christmas Day, then we don’t play it.
“You have to think about these things. If you have a fixture list where one team cannot be part of all the games, then you have to think about it. Hopefully it starts at one point, hopefully it starts now.
“We will not be the victim of this problem. We played [on Wednesday] and we wanted to win. If they don’t find a proper date for us then we cannot play the next round and whoever is our opponent will go through – or Arsenal will play it. I cannot change that.”
Liverpool already have to play seven games in December, along with that Carabao Cup quarter-final tie and either of the third-fourth play-off or the final of the Club World Cup on 21 December.
They have no midweek slots in their schedule for 2019 other than during international breaks, the next feasible opportunity to play midweek – when they will not be competing in the Premier League – will be between fixtures on 11 January and 19 January. But the first legs of the semi-finals are scheduled to be played in the week of 6 January, as worked out by BBC Sport.
Liverpool were due to play West Ham on the 20 December in the Premier League and that game is yet to be rearranged due to the Reds’ participation in the Club World Cup.
Fans have given their suggestions are to how the issue could be resolved, some said for them to play the reserves and others said give Aston Villa a bye or bring Arsenal back – see those tweets on the next page.
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