Arsenal were due to have Tony Harrington as the referee for their trip to Brentford on Thursday - but the Premier League have since confirmed a change to their officiating team.
10:00, 10 Feb 2026
Martin Odegaard chats to John Brooks.
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Arsenal have had a refereeing change for Thursday's trip to Brentford.(Image: Getty Images)
The Premier League have appointed John Brooks as the new referee for Arsenal's trip to Brentford on Thursday. Tony Harrington was scheduled to be the man in the middle for that meeting at the Gtech Community Stadium.
However, the Premier League have now confirmed Brooks has been installed as the lead official for Arsenal's game against the Bees, with Harrington removed. Harrington has also been taken off duties as fourth official for Chelsea's game against Leeds United at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
While there has been a direct change to the referee with Brooks now the taking charge, the rest of the officiating team is due to remain the same. Steven Meredith and Sian Massey-Ellis are the two assistant referees, John Busby is the fourth official, and Stuart Attwell and Constantine Hatzidakis are on VAR.
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Brooks refereeing the game instead of Harrington may not be a good omen for Arsenal. Indeed, the Gunners have won four from seven with Brooks in the middle, compared to three from three with Harrington.
The last time Brooks refereed Arsenal, however, was when the Gunners beat Brighton 2-1 in December. It marked the second time he had officiated Mikel Arteta's side, after October's 2-0 win against West Ham.
Arsenal make their trip to west London having won four matches in a row, in all competitions. They secured a 3-0 win against Sunderland in their most recent outing on Saturday.
Martin Zubimendi gave the Gunners the lead in the first half, before Viktor Gyokeres scored a second-half double to seal a comfortable victory over the Black Cats.
Reflecting on his team's performance post-match, Arteta said: "Very, very happy obviously with the win, with big parts of the performance, with the clean sheet as well, because it's a really tough opponent.
Mikel Arteta celebrates on the pitch.
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A change has been made for Thursday night's clash.(Image: Getty Images)
"They're really good at what they do, really good at breaking play, playing to the last line, breaking your press, holding the ball, and it's very difficult to get sequences with threat and momentum consecutively.
"But we knew that, I think the first goal really helped to unlock that kind of phase, and then again, the finishers, they came on the pitch and immediately they had a huge impact."
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Arsenal's win against Sunderland had moved Arteta's squad nine points above Manchester City. However, Pep Guardiola's men did reduce the gap back to six as they earned a 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday.
The Gunners could, however, be just three points above City going into Thursday's trip to Brentford. This is because City take on Fulham first on Wednesday.
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