Saturday in Scouseland

Liverpool
Anfield
Saturday September 13, 2008.
Kick off 12.45pm

Tickets

Anfield has a capacity of 45,362. United fans have got approximately 3,000 of those priced at £39 adults, £28 over 65's and £19.50p under 16's.

All tickets are sold out and everyone who applied will have, by now, found out if they were successful through the usual channels. The going rate for touted tickets is £170 in the home end and £220 in the away end.

Travel

Train - £9.20

The best ticket to get is a cheap day return, which will cost £9.20 for adults and £4.60 for under 16s.

There's lots of services to choose from each way, but the bestoption is the 10:07 departure from Piccadilly (add on six minutes if you're getting it from Oxford Road).

This train is perfect for starting the day with a cheap fry up and a pint at Barracuda in the Circus on the corner of Oxford Road and Portland Street and then nipping across the road to Oxford Road station and arriving at Lime Street just in time for the opening of other pups at 11am.

Here are some other departure times from Piccadilly (jourrney time is 48 to 52 minutes):

09:49, 10:07, 10:37, 10:49, 11,07 and 11.37

And, on the way back from Lime Street to Piccadilly:

15:14, 15:22, 15:52, 16:14, 16:22, 16:52, 17:09, 17:22, 17:52, 18:14, 18:22, 18:52 and 19:22.

There are also services from Victoria to Lime Street, but they are pretty slow, so you wouldn't lose any time by going to Piccadilly and then getting the Metrolink across town (train tickets are valid on Met services).

Once at Lime Street, it's a 15-minute walk to the stadium (follow road signs for Anfield) or it's roughly £7 in a black cab - there's a cab rank to the side of the station.

Fan coach - £18

The United We Stand/Red Issue Coach leaves from Chorlton Street Station at 10am and from the Bishop's Blaize pub at 10.15am. It costs £18. For booking details, log on to the Red Issue forum and visit this thread.

The official coach, which leaves from the N2 Car park at Old Trafford at 10.30am and is due to return to the stadium by 4.45pm, has sold out.

General coach - £6.50

National Express run coaches between Chorlton Street and Liverpool Coach Station on Norton Street.

Journeys take 55 minutes. Departure times from Manchester are at 45 minutes past the hour every hour starting at 07:45.

Departure times from Liverpool are at:15:00, 15:30, 16:15, 17:00, 17:15, 17:54, 18:30 and 19:30.

Megabus does not run a service between Manchester and Liverpool.

Car - £8.06

If you're using a route planner, use the postcode: L4 0TH to get directions to the stadium.

Petrol works out as £4.03 each way and the journey takes 49 minutes.

Drive down the M62 towards Liverpool until it ends, then do a right on the Broadwood roundabout on to the A5058, which Queen's Drive Stoneycroft. Follow that road down (the football ground is signposted) and turn left onto Utting Avenue.

Go under the railway bridge and pick one of the side streets to park in. It's free and as safe as you're going to get in Liverpool and you're quick away after the game, as the majority of the matchday traffic goes in a different direction than towards the M62.

Pub guide

Unsurprisingly, I've decided not to do one for this game. Suffice to say you will not be welcome in the Flat Iron or the Arkles near the ground, but any pub near Lime Street will be accommodating with the right approach.