The Premier League have confirmed their appointments of officials for the upcoming round of fixtures this weekend, including Arsenal’s trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Sunday.
Michael Oliver is set to referee the big-six clash, assisted by Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring.
Andy Madley will be the fourth official, with Paul Tierney on VAR, and Richard West acting as the assistant VAR.
This will be Oliver’s first game refereeing Arsenal since September, when he dismissed Leandro Trossard at the end of the first half of the match away to Manchester City.
The Gunners were leading 2-1 at the time, but the game-changing moment when Oliver deemed Trossard to have delayed the restart and issued him a second yellow card.
City ultimately rallied and scored a late equaliser to steal a point and deny Arsenal all three, with Mikel Arteta’s side struggling to maintain their first-half momentum after going down to 10 men.
That wasn’t the only Arsenal game Oliver has refereed this season, as he was also officiating as the Gunners won 2-0 away to Aston Villa in August.
So for the third time this season, Oliver will referee as Arsenal travel away to a top-half opponent. Let’s hope this weekend’s game is more like the Villa match than the City one.
