by Andrew Crawshaw
Here, courtesy of the FA website are the matches and officials for the 16 matches in the FA Cup Fourth Round:-
Friday 25 January
Bristol City v Bolton Wanderers
7.45pm, Friday 25 January
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant Referees: Richard West & Lee Venamore
Fourth Official: Craig Hicks
Arsenal v Manchester United
7.55pm, Friday 25 January
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistant Referees: Edward Smart & Constantine Hatzidakis
Fourth Official: Paul Tierney
VAR: Christopher Kavanagh
Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick
Saturday 26 January
Accrington Stanley v Derby County
12.30pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Jon Moss
Assistant Referees: Marc Perry & Andrew Halliday
Fourth Official: Simon Hooper
Swansea City v Gillingham
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Darren England
Assistant Referees: Daniel Robathan & Neil Davies
Fourth Official: Ollie Yates
Shrewsbury Town v Wolverhampton Wanderers
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Roger East
Assistant Referees: Simon Beck & James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Scott Duncan
Doncaster Rovers v Oldham Athletic
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistant Referees: Shaun Hudson & Sam Lewis
Fourth Official: Martin Woods
Brighton & Hove Albion v West Bromwich Albion
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Lee Mason
Assistant Referees: Derek Eaton & Simon Long
Fourth Official: Craig Pawson
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Peter Kirkup
Newcastle United v Watford
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: David Coote
Assistant Referees: Dan Cook & Harry Lennard
Fourth Official: Darren Bond
VAR: Martin Atkinson
Assistant VAR: Stephen Child
Middlesbrough v Newport County
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: John Brooks
Assistant Referees: Nick Greenhalgh & Matt Foley
Fourth Official: Marc Edwards
Manchester City v Burnley
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Graham Scott
Assistant Referees: Adrian Holmes & Michael McDonough
Fourth Official: Tony Harrington
VAR: Andre Marriner
Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger
Portsmouth v Queens Park Rangers
3pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Gavin Ward
Assistant Referees: Andrew Garratt & Nick Hopton
Fourth Official: Craig Hicks
Millwall v Everton
5.30pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Simon Bennett & Darren Cann
Fourth Official: Paul Tierney
AFC Wimbledon v West Ham United
7.45pm, Saturday 26 January
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistant Referees: Lee Betts & Gary Beswick
Fourth Official: Kevin Friend
Sunday 27 January
Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur
4pm, Sunday 27 January
Referee: Kevin Friend
Assistant Referees: Adam Nunn & Matthew Wilkes
Fourth Official: Roger East
VAR: Lee Mason
Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes
Chelsea v Sheffield Wednesday
6pm, Sunday 27 January
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt & Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth Official: Lee Probert
VAR: Graham Scott
Assistant VAR: Simon Bennett
Monday 28 January
Barnet v Brentford
7.45pm, Monday 28 January
Referee: Andrew Madley
Assistant Referees: Andrew Fox & Akil Howson
Fourth Official: Andy Woolmer
Six matches (including ours) get the benefit of VAR so hopefully there shouldn’t be any downright wrong decisions in those – but with the usual suspects looking at the videos…..
We have the Pleasure of Craig Pawson on the pitch and Chris Kavanagh looking at the videos.
Craig has only done one Arsenal PL match this season when we beat Bournemouth away by 2 goals to 1. We got one yellow card in the 25th minute from 9 fouls awarded. Bournemouth got two cards from 6 fouls.
Man United have also only had him once this season their 0 – 3 home loss against Spurs at the end of August. They were penalised for two yellow cards in Minutes 19 and 58 from 11 fouls. Spurs had three yellow cards (Minutes 10, 24 and 77) from 16 fouls. Roughly a card for every 5 fouls for both teams.
Last season we had Mr Pawson 3 times in the League, we lost away at Liverpool at the end of August by 3 – 0, won away at Everton in October by 5 – 2 (I have a note that Kos should have been sent off for a late and high challenge, he was wrongly given a yellow card) and beat Stoke 3 – 0 at home on 01 April.
Nothing in these matches to suggest anything other than a level playing field (but that’s probably being too kind on any PGMO official)
COYG
Of the 6 VAR matches, I would say that CPalace v Spuds is the most unbalanced. The referee, fourth official and VAR referee all tend to be slightly or more than slightly biased against the home team.
I have no data about either Darren Bond or Tony Harrington.
Our match is perhaps the lowest key officiated, with only a single official showing slight bias, that being Pawson tending to manage treatments that require more short-handed time of the home team. Oh gee, we’re the home team. Imagine that. 🙂
Newcastle v Watford is perhaps the next lowest key game. Martin Atkinson (VAR) has officiated over more treatments, more short-handed minutes due to treatments and more substitutions due to treatments. So, I would not expect any calls due to rough play to come from him.
there is a live match report