West Ham United are all set to take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Premier League Tottenham vs West Ham clash is a highly anticipated one by both sets of fans.
Julen Lopetegui has a full strength squad to choose from, aside from Niclas Fullkrug who will see his return from injury staggered.
Meanwhile, Tottenham have plenty of injury concerns, with Ange Postecoglou sweating on the fitness of three key attacking players – Heung-min Son, Richarlison and Wilson Odobert.
The London derby is a must not lose for the Hammers, whilst Spurs really cannot afford anything other than a win.
I’m really looking forward to this game, and I truly believe that we have a chance to cause a big upset in north London, just like we have done on three other occasions since 2017.
However, there is some very bad news for West Ham ahead of the game it seems…
Premier League announcement ahead of Tottenham vs West Ham
Andy Madley has been named as the referee for the huge London derby this weekend, as confirmed by the Premier League’s official website.
Madley has refereed nine games involving West Ham in the past, and we’ve won three, drawn one and lost five of those.
However, the interesting point to note is that Chris Kavanagh will be the lead official on VAR.
That’s a big concern for me.
West Ham have plenty of history with the 39-year-old Greater Manchester-born ref, and most of it is bad.
He’s been involved in some hugely controversial decisions when officiating our matches in the past.
David Moyes was apoplectic with rage with Kavanagh and his fellow officials after the Hammers were denied a late penalty against Liverpool at the London Stadium way back in the 2022/23 season, when Thiago blatantly handled the ball inside his own box (Sky Sports).
And then Kavanagh was up to his old tricks again at the start of last season, when he refused to award West Ham a spot-kick at Anfield after Jarrod Bowen was clearly brought down inside the penalty area.
Then back in 2021, there was the ludicrous decision he made when Fabian Balbuena was sent off during our defeat at home to Chelsea.
The Hammers lost 1-0 to the Blues, and that decision cost us dearly in the hunt for Champions League football.
Now, whilst Chris Kavanagh will not be refereeing the Tottenham vs West Ham Premier League clash, he definitely will be able to influence the game from his position as lead the VAR official.
Let’s hope that he doesn’t cost us points on Saturday.
Chris Kavanagh’s West Ham record
We have lost nine of the 22 games that Kavanagh has taken charge of over the past six years (Transfermarkt).
We’ve won eight and drawn five of those encounters.
He has issued two red cards to our players – the Balbuena one mentioned above and one to Arthur Masuaku during our 2-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic in 2018.
Aside from his poor performances when refereeing our games, he has produced some disastrous displays when officiating matches involving other teams.
Arsenal fans are particularly indifferent towards Kavanagh, and have made it clear that he should never referee any of their games again.
Hopefully Andy Madley puts in a top-class refereeing performance during the Tottenham vs West Ham clash on Saturday, and Kavanagh isn’t called upon to make any crucial decisions.
Because if he is, I fear that we could be on the wrong end of the calls once again.
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