Referee named for Arsenal clash with Manchester City | OneFootball

Michael Oliver is set to referee Arsenal’s match against Manchester City this weekend, with the Gunners hosting last season’s champions on Sunday.

The Premier League have confirmed who will be officiating each of the weekend’s fixtures, handing Arsenal’s match against Manchester City to referee Michael Oliver.

Stuart Burt and Lee Betts will act as Oliver’s assistants, with Tim Robinson as the fourth official. John Brooks will be on VAR, with Darren Cann acting as the assistant VAR.

There will obviously be some scrutiny on VAR this weekend, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the disallowed Liverpool goal against Tottenham Hotspur.

Hopefully, that leads to extra care being taken in such an important fixture for Arsenal’s season.

Michael Oliver has plenty of experience refereeing in the Premier League, and he’s taken charge of 53 matches involving Arsenal so far.

The Gunners have won 25, drawn 11, and lost 17 of those fixtures.

That’s obviously a worse record than Arsenal have on average, but that makes sense, as Oliver often takes on the bigger games.

The official refereed Manchester City’s home game against Arsenal last season, as well as Gunners games against Liverpool and Chelsea.

So far this season, Oliver has refereed Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest and Manchester City’s 5-1 win over Fulham, as well as a number of other Premier League and Champions League matches.

Considered to be one of the best referees in the league, his appointment this weekend is certainly not surprising.

Arsenal go into the game just one point off the current league leaders after seven matches.