Shrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell is expecting Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Liverpool to be played as planned.
Liverpool’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium was postponed on Wednesday afternoon following a request to the EFL by the Reds.
The Reds had been due to face the Gunners on Thursday night, but a COVID outbreak amongst the club’s players and staff forced Liverpool into requesting a postponement.
Wednesday’s postponement led to questions over whether Sunday's game would go ahead as planned with a number of Liverpool's players and staff currently self-isolating.
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However, it has been claimed that all Premier League clubs have been instructed by the Football Association that all FA Cup ties must be fulfilled this weekend.
It is believed that the FA will not apply any experience criteria to young players, meaning that teams will be forced to field youth teams if required.
“We have dialogue with the FA in the lead up to every FA Cup match,” Caldwell told BBC Shropshire when asked if the game at Anfield was in doubt.
“What we’re being told is the game is on, as things stand, just now. The rules are slightly different in the FA Cup than they are in the Carabao Cup and the Premier League.
“Whereby, there is a squad list in the Premier League and the Carabao Cup. They have to pick players from that, whereas in the FA Cup you can pick any registered player.
“That opens up more opportunities for Liverpool. If they want to play some of their under-23s if they’re short of players or whatever, they can do that.
“As far as we’re concerned, as it stands, the game is on as planned.
“It does make it slightly more awkward because you don’t know what team they’re going to play but at the end of the day, we probably wouldn’t have known what team would’ve played if everyone was available anyway.”
