Other appointments to note...
- Atwell on his 11th game with Everton in #WHAEVE; a third of a season with the same ref is a bit much (6W 1D 3L, all losses against London clubs)
- The FA Cup semifinals: www.thefa.com/news/2026/ap...
But the most interesting recurring appointment is Gillett as VAR in #ARSNEW... he was the on-field ref in the reverse fixture and at the centre of a very controversial penalty decision (and a wrong one, as we proved): he gave the pen, but England at VAR forced the overturn against Gillett's opinion
In terms of workload, Peter Bankes is on VAR duty for 3 matches, #BOULEE, #SUNNFO and #WOLTOT (less than 24h rest here).
There is also a recurring appointment here, as Bankes was again the VAR in #NFOSUN.
Same as Ruebyn Ricardo, 4th in #BHACHE as he was in the reverse fixture.
The only other regional conflict of this matchweek is SG2 official Howard from London at VAR for #FULAVL, though he doesn't seem to be a good omen for London clubs so far.
He will be in the VAR room for the FA Cup as well, in #CHELEE, while another Londoner, Davies, will be assistant ref
So, in #MUNBRE, Kavanagh from Manchester (and on the board of the Manchester FA) will be the on-field.
Between both clubs, they have a combined 17W 1D and 5L when a Manchester-based ref was officiating this season (all the losses with such refs at VAR, except the derby).
First, the update on the infographics...
Remember that PGMOL's current appointment policy theoretically bans same-city officials from a match but offers no guidance for regional conflicts, as Serie A did until last season.
Btw, ~70% of MUN conflicts happened after Carrick's appointment
It has taken quite some time, but we now know that Marco Silva's appeal has been partially upheld (he was charged by the FA for his comments after the West Ham game in March): www.thefa.com/news/2026/ap...
Here are the remaining appointments of match officials for Matchweek 34: www.premierleague.com/en/news/4623...
Surprise, surprise, yet again a Mancunian ref is assigned to a Manchester club.
Analyses will follow, and I suppose an update on the local refs infographic as well
I mentioned a few times (see my recent post about Semenyo) how some players have a special "protection": VVD, Rodri, B. Silva, Saliba, Chalobah, Bruno G, Cunha, Kane, etc. I have seen this first-hand and you can all easily eyeball it, but I never had a proper conversation with refs to explain why
And maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way, when in fact this proves that it's Bournemouth who are treated differently and harsher than other clubs, who knows.
Anyhow, time to go watch the UCL
The management of bookings was one of the unfair advantages that Juventus had in Serie A during the Moggi era, ensuring they always had the best possible squad available, bar injuries.
So, I picked Semenyo because he's an easy comparison within the same year. But like I said, purely anecdotally
Ask any fan of any club, and they will all remember at least one episode involving these two.
So, is City officiated differently?
There is no hard evidence that this is the case (and City fans will quickly point at Foden v Newcastle) but coming from a corrupt system like Serie A, I have my doubts
There are players we all feel that they get away with a lot more than their peers: Chalobah with a few penalties, Saliba with holding in the box, VVD with aggressiveness, Cunha with diving, etc.
But the ones who appear in every discussion, week in, week out, are Rodri and Bernardo Silva.
Semenyo picked up his first yellow card in a City shirt in #CHEMCI, which is interesting considering he used to be one of the worst "offenders" in the PL.
Now, this infographic is merely anecdotal, but I wanted to highlight the player's disciplinary stats, as I touched upon this before the move
There doesn't seem to be any other issue with the officials in terms of workload, conflicts, etc. A pleasant surprise after all the poor decisions in previous weeks.
Which makes it even more disappointing that PGMOL couldn't find less controversial and policy-breaking appointments for #MCIARS
Speaking of tiredness, and moving to the other games, these are the officials with less than 24h rest between their games:
- Howard, VAR in #EVELIV
- Robinson, 4th in #AVLSUN
- Madley, 4th in #NEWBOU
- Burt, aVAR in #MCIARS (if his conflict wasn't enough)
Lastly, Taylor is the only referee who has International duty this week, travelling to Spain for Celta-Freiburg (UEL) together with assistant Gary Bewsick also named above.
So, of all 30 SG1 referees, #MCIARS is assigned to the one who will likely be the most tired.
... and also Gary Bewsick, one of the assistants, is from a town a few miles South of Newcastle, with Arsenal playing Newcastle next.
So, 4 out of 6 officials are somehow "controversial".
Not what you would want from PGMOL for such a big game, but maybe what many expect, given the precedents.
I will get to the other games, but straight away I can see many issues in #MCIARS:
- Taylor (ref) paired with a Manchester club despite living in the city
- Tierney (4th) is from Greater Manchester
- Burt (aVAR) is one of the refs "on City's payroll" for officiating in the UAE, same as Oliver
...
Here are the match officials for Matchweek 33: www.premierleague.com/en/news/4618...
Only a few games left.
In terms of workload, these officials have less than 24h rest between games:
- Smith, aVAR in #ARSBOU
- Bankes, VAR in #BURBHA
- Jones and Bramall, ref and 4th in #SUNTOT
- Salisbury, ref in #NFOAVL
Interestingly, Jones and Bramall play inverted roles in #BURBHA: not a common thing the same week
Then we have those repeated appointments... Only one this weekend though:
- Bankes at VAR for #WHUWOL, and he was the on-field in the reverse fixture
I haven't had the time to look at the shifts, might update the thread eventually
Also, Tierney continues the tradition of local refs to both Manchester clubs, as he's on #MUNLEE
Then there's Farai Hallam from Surrey, living only a few miles from Brentford (he's on #BREEVE)
Last is Howard from London, at VAR for #CHEMCI
Quite a few conflicts this weekend 😓
Interestingly, this post appeared on Twitter before the announcement. Spot on.
Oliver is indeed officiating #ARSBOU (moreover, he does it ahead of #BOUNEW so there's another conflict), with England at VAR
And Kavanagh gets #CHEMCI (he's on the Manchester FA and trains on City's grounds)
Yeah I'm late, sorry...
Matchweek 32 starts tonight and these are all the match officials appointedthis weekend: www.premierleague.com/en/news/4615...
The match officials for the FA Cup Quarter Finals have been announced: www.thefa.com/news/2026/ap...
City got Oliver and Mancunian Paul Tierney... 🤷🏻♂️
Chelsea got Hallam from just a few miles down the road
Leeds got a Sheffield ref
You couldn't make this up. Analyses may follow
[6/6] So, a particularly bad day in the office for Attwell and Pawson.
By the way, Pawson has curiously been paired with Man United far more frequently since Carrick was appointed. 3 times in the 5 months before, 5 times in the 2 months after. Just noticed that.
[5/6] Fans are always highlighting these situations, usually in infuriated talks about Arsenal's "dark arts". Based on the new rules for this season, these should always result in free kicks or penalties, depending on the offending side.
This is very inconsistently applied. And again yesterday
[4/6] Interestingly, there was another offence that went totally undetected, and could have led to disallowing United's second goal.
On the corner, Amad is clearly holding and impeding Petrovic who cannot move to catch the ball before it goes behind him.
[3/6] On Maguire's red card, perhaps it is soft, but defenders ask for trouble when putting arms on the opponent's body. Since the act is deemed an offence, the excessive force becomes a subjective interpretation and VAR will hardly intervene there.
The moment you do that, it can always be a foul