Anthony Taylor will once more referee a match between Tottenham and Chelsea after the Premier League confirmed his appointment for Sunday's blockbuster meeting. It comes just over two years since his last involvement in a game between the two.
At Stamford Bridge in August 2022, Taylor was the man in the middle for a dramatic and fiery 2-2 draw played out between the sides. Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel were the managers on that day, which saw their infamous handshake grapple at full-time.
Taylor and VAR decided against penalising Spurs defender Cristian Romero for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair in the final minute of the game as Harry Kane went on to score from the resulting corner. The Altrincham-born official was met with fury from fans, players, and coaching staff alike.
A petition by Blues supporters for him to never be in charge of a game again generated over 160,000 signatures in rapid time. Taylor has a history of frustrating the Chelsea faithful including calls not to send off Harry Maguire in a Carabao Cup tie in 2019, dishing out a red card to Mateo Kovacic in the 2020 FA Cup final, and failing to punish Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for a handball in the same game.
Taylor was also referee for Chelsea's 2-0 win over Tottenham in December 2019. He initially gave a foul on Paolo Gazzaniga for a collision with Marcos Alonso before overturning it and awarding Chelsea a penalty. Spurs will argue that it was their side harshly treated on that day as Son Heung-Min was sent off upon VAR review for kicking out at Antonio Rudiger.
This season, Taylor has refereed two Chelsea games - the opening day 2-0 defeat to Manchester City and a 1-0 away win over Bournemouth. He was in charge for Tottenham's 4-0 demolition of Everton in the second match of the campaign as well. That is his only one for Ange Postecoglou's side, though.
In 12 matches he has dished out 48 yellow cards and a single red card, issuing five penalties along the way, including two for Arsenal in Saturday's victory over West Ham. Taylor also set the Premier League record for most bookings in a single game with 14 in the aforementioned Bournemouth vs Chelsea clash in mid-September.
Last season Taylor refereed Chelsea four times and they went unbeaten. He only managed two for Spurs which resulted in a win and a loss.
Jarred Gillett, another PGMOL figure that has left Chelsea fans less than enamoured, will be on VAR duty at Stockley Park. Mark Scholes is down as assistant VAR.
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