Storm Warning Puts Brighton Trip Under Serious Scrutiny
We are not used to talking about Liverpool matches in terms of wind speed rather than team news, but that is where things stand ahead of the home game with Brighton. According to This Is Anfield, Storm Boelo is close enough to matchday that officials now have a genuine decision to make, and it has nothing to do with the state of the pitch at Anfield.
What the forecast is actually saying
The detail that matters here is specific rather than vague. A yellow weather warning covers the window from midday Saturday right through to nine o’clock on Sunday night, with forecasters pointing to very windy conditions across the whole of matchday. On Merseyside itself, gusts are expected to sit somewhere between 55 and 65mph. That is not the kind of number clubs can plan around with a few extra stewards. It is the kind of number that changes the entire conversation from football logistics to public safety.
Supporters come before the fixture list
The call will ultimately sit with the local Safety Advisory Group, made up of representatives from both clubs, Merseyside Police and the city council, and that feels like exactly the right body to be making it. Their stated priority is public safety rather than pitch conditions, which is the correct order of concerns in weather like this. The travelling support is the obvious worry. Brighton’s players may well make the trip up in calmer conditions on the Saturday, but thousands of fans face a long journey on roads and rail lines that could easily be disrupted by the same storm. Nobody wants a repeat of fans stranded far from home because a match went ahead regardless.
Liverpool have been here before
This will feel familiar to anyone who remembers December 2024, when the Merseyside derby was called off after gusts reached 70mph, with officials ruling it was not safe for supporters regardless of what the players or broadcasters wanted. There is also the cautionary tale from 2023, when Liverpool played through Storm Ciaran at Bournemouth and ended up stuck on the south coast, facing a 265 mile bus journey home because flights were grounded. That is not a situation anyone connected with the club wants to live through twice.
The cost of getting it wrong either way
If the game is pushed back, the fixture list becomes an immediate headache. There is no obvious free midweek slot until the middle or back end of December, and even those dates depend on how far both clubs go in the League Cup. That is a real incentive to try to play through it. Our view is simple all the same. A congested calendar is an inconvenience that football always finds a way to absorb. Asking supporters to travel through dangerous winds just to protect a kick off time is not a risk worth taking, and if Storm Boelo is as severe as forecast, Anfield should not be open for business this weekend.