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Rival fans mockingly refer to Manchester City ’s home as the “Emptihad” Stadium.

But new figures show that the Blues have one of the fullest grounds in the country – with a bigger take-up than Liverpool and Manchester United .

In fact, out of the clubs with the five biggest grounds in English football, only Arsenal sell their seats more effectively.

According to figures compiled by worldfootball.net City have this season been 98.7 per cent full.

That compares favourably to Anfield (97.7 per cent) and Old Trafford (97 per cent).

The only clubs ahead of City are Arsenal (99.9 per cent), West Ham (99.3 per cent), and Norwich (99.3 per cent).

Rival fans frequently mock the empty seats at the stadium, and City fans have turned that into a chant which declares: "We've been to Rotterdam, Monaco, Napoli and Rome, but we still get blue empty seats, empty seats at home."

City have an average attendance of 54,399 this season, although that figure is based on seats sold, rather than occupied.

United still have the highest average attendance with 73,491, while City are in fifth, one place ahead of Liverpool with 52,846.

Four Football League clubs make the top 20 in terms of average attendance, namely Leeds (34,956), Sunderland (30,279), Nottingham Forest (27,782) and Derby County (26,979).

City have expanded the stadium since the 2009 takeover, with a third tier on the South Stand, which opened in 2015, taking capacity up to 55,097 for domestic matches.

The club has outline planning permission for a matching third tier in the North Stand, and have considered including a safe standing area.

The proposals are yet to be finalised or approved, but would take capacity up to 63,000, which would make the stadium the third biggest club ground in the country, ahead of Tottenham.