The Football Association has confirmed that they are in discussions with both Manchester City and Liverpool to come up with a solution after fans' travel plans for the FA Cup semi-final showdown at Wembley next month were thrown into doubt.
Scheduled to take place over the Easter weekend of April 16 and April 17, there are no scheduled train services from the North West to the capital, meaning thousands of supporters face severe disruption in their attempts to reach London. It has not yet been confirmed if the match will take place on the Saturday or Sunday, but train services will be unavailable across the whole of the bank holiday weekend.
City booked their place in the last four with an emphatic 4-1 win over Southampton on Sunday afternoon. Second-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez sealed the Blues' passage to Wembley after Aymeric Laporte's own goal just before half-time cancelled out Raheem Sterling's opener.
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Liverpool, meanwhile, booked their date with City by recording a hard-fought 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Diogo Jota netted the only goal of the game to seal Jurgen Klopp's side's second Wembley trip of the season.
A statement released by the FA said: "The FA will be liaising closely with both Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC on all match arrangements, including supporters travel for the upcoming Emirates FA Cup semi-final fixture at Wembley Stadium, with further details to be announced in due course.
"We are also continuing to work with both Network Rail and National Express to find a solution so that supporters of both teams are able to travel to and from the fixture with as minimal disruption as possible."
Avanti West Coast has confirmed that they will not be running any trains to London Euston from April 15 to 18 because of widespread engineering works that are set to take place across the network. It means fans of both City and Liverpool face an impossible challenge of travelling south by rail.
Although the day of the City vs Liverpool semi-final has not yet been confirmed, nor has it that it will definitely be played at Wembley amid the travel problems, it is expected that it will be the first of the two semi-finals, therefore played on Saturday, April 16. Liverpool face Manchester United at Anfield on Tuesday, April 19, meaning a Sunday showdown between the two is unlikely.
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