by Andrew Crawshaw
Additional note: We have now started a new site – Football Predictions – and you will find detailed reviews of and predictions for some of the matches this weekend on that site.
Here are the matches and officials courtesy of premierleague.com. Kickoffs are 15:00 unless noted otherwise
Saturday 15 December
12:30 Man City v Everton
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Eddie Smart, Richard West
Fourth official: Paul Tierney
Crystal Palace v Leicester City
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Stuart Attwell
Huddersfield Town v Newcastle United
- See Huddersfield v Newcastle: predicting the outcome on “Football Predictions”
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Martin Atkinson
- See Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley: result predictions on “Football Predictions”
Referee: Graham Scott
Assistants: Simon Long, Neil Davies
Fourth official: Lee Mason
Watford v Cardiff City
Referee: Andy Madley
Assistants: Matthew Wilkes, Mick McDonough
Fourth official: Andre Marriner
- See Wolverhampton Wanderers v Bournemouth: the predictions on “Football Predictions”
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistants: Ian Hussin, Scott Ledger
Fourth official: Kevin Friend
17:30 Fulham v West Ham United
Referee: Mike Dean
Assistants: Darren Cann, Dan Robathan
Fourth official: Lee Probert
Sunday 16 December
13:30 Brighton v Chelsea
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Andy Garratt
Fourth official: Kevin Friend
13:30 Southampton v Arsenal
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistants: Daniel Cook, Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth official: Graham Scott
16:00 Liverpool v Man Utd
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Stephen Child, Lee Betts
Fourth official: Anthony Taylor
Crystal Palace have the dubious distinction of being the first club in the PL to have has a referee for four matches with the appointment yet again of Michael Oliver. They have also had Anthony Taylor on three occasions thus 41% of their matches have been officiated by two officials. Too high a proportion for comfort or protection against any possible type 3 matchfixing.
Spurs have had three referees three times – Martin Atkinson, Mike Dean and Craig Pawson – that’s over half of their games.
None of Arsenal, Burnley, Cardiff, Everton, Fulham, Leicester, Southampton and West Ham have yet had any referee on three occasions.
Andy Madley makes his PL debut this weekend having been entrusted with the whistle for Watford v Cardiff. He will be the 18th referee used this year.
The four referees with the fewest games are Andy Madley (1), Neil Swarbrick (3), Simon Hooper (3) and David Coote (4). Between them they will have officiated 11 matches which is typical of all referees (half have done more, half less). Effectively then these four only count as one in terms of workload meaning that effectively the PGMO have only used 15 officials this season.
Anthony Taylor remains the most over-used referee having done 16 matches in the 17 weeks. Martin Atkinson and Michael Oliver are close behind on 14.
In our match on Sunday away to Southampton we have Chris Kavanagh in what will be his 11th match of the season. Chris is Manchester born and this is his second season in the Select Group of the PGMO. To date he has officiated 26 PL matches issuing 3 red and 88 yellow cards.
This will be his second match in charge of an Arsenal game this season, we had him at the Emirates in Matchweek 9 when we beat Leicester 3 – 1. In that game he issued two yellow cards to Arsenal in minutes 17 and 35, penalising us for 10 fouls. He also issued two cards to Leicester in Minutes 64 and 65 also on 10 fouls.
Last season we only had him on one occasion when we beat Crystal Palace 4 – 1 at home. Other than that we have not had him for any League games so there is virtually no past history to go on in terms of predicting how we will be treated. Experience with all of the other PGMO referees would lead to suggest that we shouldn’t expect any ‘gifts’ and will be far more likely to be denied decisions than be given them.
Chris will be accompanied by assistants Daniel Cook and Sian Massey-Ellis and Graham Scott as Fourth Official.
So far this season we haven’t had a single home match without getting a player cautioned but have managed it twice in away matches against Newcastle and Fulham, I wonder if this will be the third?
COYG
- How are Arsenal doing compared to recent years?
- Football: a troubled country that just keeps rolling
