The FA makes official decision ahead of Liverpool vs Accrington Stanley clash

Liverpool will welcome an old rival to Anfield on Saturday as the third round of the FA Cup looms. Accrington Stanley will make the journey to Merseyside for just the second time in their history, and the first since a new era dawned on the Lancashire club.

The two sides last met back in 1956, at the same stage in the tournament. A Billy Liddell brace was enough to give Liverpool the win at home but the Reds were later knocked out by eventual champions Manchester City in a fifth round replay.

Accrington Stanley are currently 19th in the League Two table, with 25 points on the board from 23 games. Liverpool will enter the clash still looking for their first win of 2025, after being held to a 2-2 draw against Manchester United in the Premier League, and falling 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in their latest Carabao Cup meeting.

Arne Slot has stressed he ‘did not see many differences’ from those fixtures compared to other games his side have played. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the manager was calm about Liverpool’s winless run in the new year so far.

“The only difference is we played these two games after winning 6-3 against Tottenham and 5-0 against West Ham. So if you compare to those standards, I do agree that the games against United and the last against Tottenham were of lower standards compared to those two.”

Slot also provided some updates on the fitness levels of his squad, as Jarell Quansah is expected to return to action this weekend.

Who is the referee for Liverpool vs Accrington Stanley?

Lewis Smith will be the referee for Saturday’s FA Cup clash between Liverpool and Accrington Stanley. Last year, the Englishman became the youngest person to officiate a Premier League match during the 2024/25 season at 30 years old, when he was put in charge of Fulham vs Aston Villa for his top flight debut. Smith will be supported by assistants Richard West and Andrew Fox, along with fourth official Zac Kennard-Kettle.

Smith was last in action on New Year’s Day, when he took charge of Sheffield Wednesday’s 4-2 win over Derby in the Championship. His last Premier League match was the Boxing Day clash between Southampton and West Ham. Smith averaged handing out 3.6 cards per game over his last ten fixtures, and he also gave out two penalties in that time.

Arne Slot latest Liverpool updates

During his presser, Slot provided an update on Quansah and Dominik Szoboszlai. The latter has missed the last two Liverpool games due to illness and was also absent for the West Ham clash after picking up a yellow card suspension. Quansah was replaced by Wataru Endō after just half an hour during the Carabao Cup clash against Spurs, also due to illness.

“Dom [Szoboszlai] trained with the U21s yesterday. Jarell [Quansah], like I said, was a bit ill last week, as a result of that I had to take him off during the game but I am expecting him to be available for tomorrow,” Slot said.