Liverpool set to play in front of biggest home crowd for 50 years against Man Utd

Liverpool are set to be given a major boost ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Manchester United as Jurgen Klopp’s side prepare to play in front of a record Anfield crowd

Liverpool will play Manchester United in front of the largest Anfield crowd in almost 50 years.

About 57,000 spectators could attend Sunday’s match between United and the legendary stadium. This is because the upper tier of the renovated Anfield Road Stand has partially opened.

However, following Monday night’s test, the Reds are awaiting the issuance of a safety certificate by Liverpool City Council, as reported by The Athletic. Jurgen Klopp’s team would greatly benefit from it, considering they have played this season in front of fewer than 50,000 spectators.

Thanks to the expanded capacity, Anfield will host its greatest league crowd for a Liverpool match since April 1973, when 56,202 fans watched Bill Shankly’s team draw 0-0 with Leicester. But the 1952 FA Cup match against Wolves will continue to hold the record for the most attendance at a Liverpool game in the stadium with 61,905 people.

Anfield’s renovation is a component of an £80 million effort to redesign the venue. It was supposed to be completed before the 2023–2024 season began, but unanticipated hold-ups caused by the early September administration of construction company Buckingham Group put a stop to the project.

The club hope that their new upper tier will be fully operational by the end of January. That would boost the total capacity to 61,000 for the remainder of the season.

Liverpool’s vice president of stadium operations Paul Cuttill said: “It’s been really challenging. When what happened to Buckingham happened, it changed the course of the programme.

“We brought back in contractors that had previously worked with Buckingham to ensure that we retained as many of them as possible in order to complete this project.

“Getting spectators into the upper deck securely and quickly was always the top objective. We’ve succeeded by pure perseverance and a great deal of hard work.