Sky Sports’ coverage of Liverpool’s game at Chelsea suffered an unexpected interruption after the fire alarm went off at Stamford Bridge.
The Reds are in West London for their first game after being crowned Premier League champions last weekend. Arne Slot’s men will be looking to extend their 15-point lead at the top of the table even further after Arsenal fell to defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday.
The Liverpool boss is expected to make changes to his side, having promised he will be rotating his squad during their remaining four games this season. That could present an opportunity for Chelsea, with Enzo Maresca’s side looking to secure a place in the Champions League for next season.
As they have been for much of the season, the Reds were picked for the live game as part of Sky Sports’ Super Sunday coverage, although the afternoon didn’t get off to the best of starts in the studio.
Alongside host Kelly Cates were former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, ex-Liverpool and Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge and former Liverpool captain Jamie Redknapp.
The coverage was going along as usual until an announcement could be heard being made over the tannoy at Stamford Bridge, despite the ground being empty around three hours before kick-off.
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It wasn’t clear what the announcement was as it arrived while Keane was discussing Chelsea, and the Blues’ need for a senior figure like Virgil van Dijk in their squad. As Sturridge began to have his say though, the broadcast took a strange turn.
An alarm began blaring out as the former Reds striker spoke, although he and his fellow pundits appeared to be unmoved.
As the alarm continued, host Cates was forced to interrupt in order to explain why no one looked too concerned.
“We should just point out to people, we’re not sitting here blindly ignoring the fire alarm,” Cates explained. “It’s just a test, they’ve already announced that one in case the microphones were picking that up.”
(Image: Sky Sports)
The alarm ended soon after, with Keane and his fellow pundits smirking as the broadcast continued without any further interruption.
Liverpool will be hoping there aren’t any similar incidents as they take on Chelsea, with the Reds having the chance to break Manchester City’s record for the biggest winning margin for a title winner, which currently stands at 19 points – although it’s not a record that Slot has had in mind.
“I didn’t know. If I don’t know, I can’t use it. Now I might. But I don’t think that will light a fire in many players,” the Liverpool boss admitted to the Liverpool Echo.
“What could help, we have to wait and see, but add one or two, maybe a bit more, players who haven’t played as much so that they can maybe create a certain new spirit.
“There’s no new spirit needed but you know what I mean. It’s two days before the game, mostly I come up with something in the last one or two days to try to get them going, but I haven’t thought about that much until now.”
