Liverpool will face Aston Villa in the Premier League this weekend and the referee appointments have been confirmed
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool(Image: Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
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The Premier League have confirmed the referee for Liverpool's clash against Aston Villa this weekend. The Reds go into the fixture on the back of four consecutive defeats in the top flight and will be determined to return to winning ways.
Arne Slot's side fell to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Brentford last weekend, which saw them drop to seventh place in the Premier League table. That, combined with losses against Manchester United, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, means that Liverpool are without a win in the top flight since September 20.
Liverpool will return to Anfield to take on Villa in the Saturday evening kick-off, and it has been confirmed that Stuart Attwell will be the referee. Attwell will have Nick Hopton and Craig Taylor as assistant referees, while Paul Tierney will be on VAR.
Slot has previously been left frustrated by a decision made by Attwell in a high-profile Liverpool fixture, which happened against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup semi-final last season. The Reds head coach believed Lucas Bergvall should have received a second yellow card shortly before scoring the winning goal for Spurs in the first leg of the semi-final back in January.
Bergvall was not booked for a challenge on Kostas Tsimikas which left the left-back requiring treatment on the sidelines. It was while Tsimikas was off the pitch that Bergvall scored the winning goal against Liverpool, which prompted the frustration from Slot.
“Yes, I don’t think there’s any debate about that," Slot told reporters on January 8 when asked if he thinks Attwell should have issued a second yellow card to Bergvall.
"They say he (the referee) didn’t (want to) stop the counter-attack and I say every manager would prefer when a tackle being made 40 yards from our goalkeeper, that the player is given a second yellow card rather than to continue the counter-attack with a player less to play that counter-attack with.
“The next discussion is was it reckless enough to give advantage and come back and say the tackle was still too reckless and then give a yellow.
“When he (the referee) didn’t give the second yellow nobody thought it would have such a big impact 30 seconds later.
“I haven’t asked him, but I’m 99.9% sure I wasn’t the only one who felt ‘Wow, not the best’. I’m 99.9% sure when Bergvall scored the referee thought ‘Oh, is this really happening?’ because he couldn’t change it anymore. I think for him it was also far from ideal.
“In the offside decision he had to tell everyone what the decision was and unfortunately he didn’t have to do that with this decision.”
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