- Heavy rainfall has severely damaged AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane pitch
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off!, available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday
A date for Newcastle United’s already postponed Carabao Cup tie at AFC Wimbledon has been plunged in further doubt with the pitch in Plough Lane severely damaged.
The Magpies were due to travel to the League Two side on Tuesday for their third-round fixture.
However, the pitch is currently unplayable and part of it has been damaged, after heavy rainfall caused flooding in Wimbledon.
And pictures takes of the ground on Monday have revealed the true extent of the damage with the pitch resembling a golf course in one corner, rather than one suiting football.
A large sinkhole stretches to the start of the penalty area and this means
The full extent of the damage at Plough Lane can now revealed after heavy rainfall in London
The large sinkholes have made a corner of the Plough Lane pitch resemble a golf course
The heavy rainfall has created sinkholes that stretch to a corner of the penalty area
It leaves both clubs with a headache as to when and where to play the game, and further communication is awaited. That headache is enhanced by the fact that the pitch doesn’t look like it would be ready to host a game midweek next week either with Wimbledon already due to play at home on Saturday and Tuesday.
Eddie Howe’s pre-match press conference was cancelled just 25 minutes before he was due to speak to the media on Monday morning.
Newcastle face Manchester City on Saturday and travel to Everton the week after, before the international break.
Wimbledon are due to face Crewe in the league next Tuesday, leaving no scope for a rearrangement this side of the October break.
Carabao Cup rules state that a neutral venue can be used if needed and there is also the possibility of the game being played on the dates reserved for fourth-round ties.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villla, and Leicester City are also supposed to be in action in midweek.
A prominent podcast covering the League Two club, The Wombles had a Dream, claims that even the changing rooms at Wimbledon are flooded after pumps at the stadium failed.
It means Newcastle’s fixture at Wimbledon’s Plough Lane has been called off as a result
Part of the pitch at Plough Lane has been damaged due to the intense rainfall in Wimbledon
Both clubs have a headache over where and when to play the Carabao Cup third-round match
A neutral venue can be used while there is the possibility of playing on fourth-round dates
A video filmed from a flat near the stadium shows the extent of the flooding in and around it
The flooding comes amid Great Britain’s ‘megastorm’. Commuters faced a chaotic start to the week today with journeys delayed by heavy downpours that caused ‘significant’ flooding and travel chaoson Monday morning.
Roads were deluged and train lines blocked after nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in some areas around London and the Home Counties between midnight and 8am.
Four London Underground lines were part-suspended due to flooding this morning – the Bakerloo, District, Metropolitan and Piccadilly – in addition to the Overground.
Heavy rain overnight has caused some roads to flood in Essex this morning, as pictured above
A vehicle is driven through floodwater in Dunsden, Oxfordshire, this morning after heavy rain
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for all of today, and an amber warning until 9pm
The Met Office activated an amber warning for parts of central and South West England until 9pm amid concerns flooded roads could cut off some communities.
A wider yellow warning is running for all of today, covering parts of Wales, much of the south of England, the Midlands and into North West England and Yorkshire.
Some affected areas could see up to 120mm (4.7in) of rain throughout today and forecasters warned there may be more weather warnings imposed later this week.
