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Anfield's pitch is being relaid this summer and will be the first in the country to use a new ‘Permavoid’ system which speeds up drainage at wetter times of the year.

A new irrigation and drainage system is part of the ongoing works which have seen diggers and machinery move in to rip out the old pitch.

The work also involves installing a new under-soil heating system featuring 19 miles of pipeline to prevent the ground from freezing during winter.

It is hoped the work will see the first home game of the season start against Crystal Palace on August 19 on a significantly improved surface.

The pitch is made up of 97% organic grass and 3% artificial grass fibres, over 40,000km of which will be sown into the layers of sand and soil beneath the pitch.

The old Anfield pitch was more than 15 years old and overdue for replacing but the work on the new Main Stand stopped it happening until this summer.

That new irrigation system will allow the whole pitch to be watered prior to kick off in under three minutes. while eight heat and moisture sensors have been installed to help monitor the best growing environment for the pitch.

Andrew Parkinson, operations director for Liverpool FC, said: "We have a number of significant projects ongoing across the stadium during the summer months. The pitch renovation is a major piece of work which the whole team are really excited about ahead of the new season.

"This is another significant investment at Anfield making further important improvements like installing state-of-the-art drainage and irrigation systems that will ensure our players have the best playing surface for the seasons ahead.”

The stats

Over 19 miles of pipeline has been installed under the pitch as part of Anfield’s new under-soil heating system

Specialised installers will inject over 20 million individual artificial turf fibres into the pitch at Anfield

Over 40,000 km of artificial fibre will be stitched into the pitch during the renovation – the equivalent of the Earth’s circumference

More than half a ton of grass seed will be sown into the pitch at Anfield. This in turn will produce approximately 250 million grass plants. Each grass plant typically has around five leaves meaning that players will be playing football on approximately 1.25 billion individual blades of grass

The Club uses Dwarf Perennial Ryegrass which is the strongest and most hardwearing grass for sports pitches.

Once grown, the pitch at Anfield is cut and tended to daily

Ground staff use 12 large grow lights and three small grow lights to cultivate the grass on the pitch.