September 13 – Liverpool marked the opening of their new stand and their first home fixture of the season with a crowd of 53,076, a fraction off 98% of the stadium’s new capacity.
With a thrilling 4-1 win against Premier League champions Leicester City, manager Jurgen Klopp triumphantly announced that “we should open a new stand every week”. They would probably fill it.
The new Main Stand is the core of a redevelopment of the ground and its surrounding areas, with a number of local community elements in the overall plan. The construction cost has been £115 million for the addition of 8,500 seats, raising the capacity to 54,167, from the previous 46,000.
Liverpool’s new Anfield capacity didn’t put the club’s ground in the top three of clubs at home on Saturday. Those three were Manchester United, Arsenal and West Ham who between them, according to stats in the Times, recorded the biggest trio of top division attendances for 49 years.
Lower down the weekly attendance table Burnley struggled to fill Turf Moor with 3,743 seats unfilled for their home draw against Hull. They will doubtless have better days.
But a familiar pattern is emerging in the North East with both Middlesbrough and Sunderland filling less than 90% of their stadium capacities.
Premier League Round 4 attendances
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