Aston Villa's Carabao Cup quarter-final with Liverpool to be played on original date

Liverpool FC and the English Football League have confirmed that the Carabao Cup quarter-final - Aston Villa vs Liverpool - will take place on the original date of 17th of December.

This follows discussions between Liverpool and the organisers of the competition about a potential delay of the quarter-final to ease Liverpool's busy schedule in December as the club compete in both the Premier League and the FIFA Club World Cup around the same time as the quarter-final.

It had seemed that the fixture would be delayed until January, the week of the semi-final, but the two parties have agreed to stick to the regular schedule to avoid compromising the integrity of the competition.

To counter their fixture congestion, Liverpool will split their squad between the Club World Cup and the Carabao Cup and field two separate teams for the clashing competitions. A situation that may benefit the Villa as their opposition will favour the Club World Cup.

The fixture will take place at Villa Park on the 17th of December.