**The set of officials for the 20:00 Premier League kick-off between West Ham and Manchester City has been announced, with a veteran set to take charge of the whistle.**
West Ham United have a crucial fixture ahead of them as it is yet another opportunity to escape the relegation zone, but the opposition will prevent that from being an easy task, given that Manchester City is who we are up against. Pep’s side are currently battling to hunt down Arsenal for the Premier League title, where there’s a possibility City could head into the game against the Hammers being 10 points away from the league leaders.
West Ham plays before all of the other true relegation candidates, meaning it’s a chance to escape, but regardless, it means we’ll all be in for a nervous Sunday afternoon.
The referee in charge of the game under the lights will be no other than Michael Oliver.
He has only refereed West Ham United once this season, which was at the beginning of the season against Chelsea, where we suffered a 5-1 defeat at the London Stadium, but I’m sure we can all admit that wasn’t due to the performance of the referee, just the true reality of West Ham at the time.
He has refereed 46 Premier League matches that have involved the Hammers, giving 64 yellow cards in that period -1.39 per-game – and not to tempt fate, but he’s yet to give a Red Card in a Premier League match involving the Hammers.
As to who will be at Stockley Park on VAR, it’ll be Jarrod Gillett leading the lines, with his assistant Marc Perry.
Jarrod Gillett has yet to be on VAR for the Hammers this season, but has been in charge for two matches on the pitch. He was in charge of both the fixtures West Ham faced Spurs, one in which he handed Soucek a red card, but it certainly was deserved in the 3-0 loss at the London Stadium.
His track record with VAR hasn’t been ideal. If we peel back our minds to March 2024, he oversaw the longest VAR check in Premier League history (5 minutes and 37 seconds), which saw our 95th-minute winner be ruled out for offside against Aston Villa, a supposed handball.
Hopefully, no VAR shenanigans will occur tonight under the lights in the roaring London Stadium.
To finish the officials lineup, acting as Fourth official will be Sam Allison, who will be monitoring Nuno Espírito Santo as well as Pep Lijnders, who is in replacement of Pep Guardiola, whilst the Spaniard serves his two-game suspension he accumulated.