Inside Elland Road: Brenden Aaronson praise
Leeds United head to the City Ground on Sunday for their final Premier League fixture before the November international break.
The Premier League have confirmed their latest round of referee appointments with Jarred Gillett to take charge of Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United.
Daniel Farke’s side head to the City Ground on Sunday afternoon hoping to arrest their poor early away form. A 3-1 win at Wolves remains their only positive result and the only game in which they’ve scored on the road, with last weekend’s long trip to Brighton ending in a disappointing 3-0 defeat.
Hosts Nottingham Forest drew 2-2 at home to Manchester United in their most recent fixture, with new manager Sean Dyche getting his first point on the board since replacing Ange Postecoglou last month. That was just their sixth point of the campaign so far, a tally that leaves them 19th going into the weekend.
Ahead of another big weekend of action up and down the country, the Premier League have announced their latest round of referee appointments, confirming Gillett will be in the middle at the City Ground on Sunday. He will be assisted by Neil Davies and Eddie Smart, with Anthony Taylor as fourth official and Matt Donohue on VAR duties.
Gillett has taken charge of seven Premier League games so far this season, blowing for 20.43 fouls and brandishing 3.71 yellow cards per game on average. The Australian has been involved with one Leeds fixture so far and it was one to forget, with the Whites losing 5-0 at Arsenal back in August.
Leeds fans will remember Gillett’s decision to award Arsenal a penalty in that game after adjudging Anton Stach to have fouled 15-year-old Max Dowman. Summer signing Stach was far from happy with the decision although it had little bearing on the final result.
Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United referee’s weekend controversy
Gillett was at the heart of a controversial decision over the weekend, too, having been appointed to take charge of the usually-fiery London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. Enzo Maresca’s Blues won 1-0 but were left furious after a challenge from Rodrigo Bentancur on Reece James.
Bentancur went in late on James in first-half added-time and his nasty-looking challenge kicked off a small melee between both sets of players. The midfielder was eventually booked but Gillett’s decision was not considered to have gone far enough, with a number of Chelsea players complaining at the yellow card.
Read More
Replays showed Bentancur landed heavily on the ankle of James in what former striker Jay Bothroyd later described an ‘orange card’ challenge. And former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher also admitted it could easily have been a red.
"I think this is one of them,” Gallagher told Sky Sports. “If he gets sent off, VAR is not bringing him back. I think it's more red than a yellow card. But I can understand the yellow on-field. I think VAR is going to back the decision."
Leeds will hope for no such controversies when they head to the City Ground on Sunday afternoon in what is their final game before the November international break. The Whites then return to a very tricky winter schedule.
Continue Reading