Arne Slot was shown a red card following Liverpool's draw with Everton.placeholder image
Arne Slot was shown a red card following Liverpool's draw with Everton. | Getty Images
The officials have been named for Liverpool v Sunderland and Arne Slot might not be too pleased to see who the man in the middle is.
Despite an indifferent season, the Reds are just four points off second place and are within touching distance of the Champions League places. A positive run of results and there is no reason why they can’t put pressure on Arsenal having proven that they can go all the way last season. Mikel Arteta’s side, on the other hand, have fallen at the final hurdle on several occasions now.
Premier League announce referee for Liverpool v Sunderland
Slot has been unlucky in that he is facing a near fully fit Sunderland team ahead of the African Cup of Nations when they will have more players missing than any other team in the league. It looks like the Liverpool boss has stumbled on a successful game plan to compensate for the loss of Mohamed Salah during which Arsenal will be on the fixture list.
The officials have been named for the late kick-off for the visit of the Black Cats with Slot unlikely to be happy with the man in the middle after a controversial incident in just his second defeat as manager last season. In January this year, Liverpool lost 1-0 to Tottenham with a goal that was scored by a player who shouldn’t have been on the park, whilst down to 10-men thanks to Kostas Tsimikas being off the park receiving treatment because of the tackle that should have seen a second yellow card for Lucas Bergvall.
Stuart Attwell was the referee and there might be a frosty reception from Slot. He will be assisted by Constantine Hatzidakis and Adrian Holmes with the fourth official being Dean Whitestone. On VAR is Tim Wood and the assistant VAR is Matt Donohue.
Slot fumes about Attwell decision
Slot cut a frustrated figure in January in his post-match press conference, which was considerably calmer than his demeanour on the touchline as the chaos ensued. Instead of blowing for a free-kick and issuing Bergvall a second yellow card, Attwell played advantage, a point that clearly incensed Slot.
“Yes, I don’t think there’s any debate about that,” Slot said. “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.”
Hopefully, Slot isn’t left as frustrated at full-time at Anfield.
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