Chris Kavanagh was involved in a number of high-profile errors during Aston Villa's FA Cup clash with Newcastle United earlier this month, but will return to refereeing this weekend
Aston Villa players appeal to Chris Kavanagh
Chris Kavanagh made a number of errors in Aston Villa's FA Cup match with Newcastle (Image: Serena Taylor, Newcastle United via Getty Images)
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Chris Kavanagh is set to resume his Premier League refereeing duties this weekend for the Manchester United vs Crystal Palace match, following a calamitous FA Cup outing between Aston Villa and Newcastle.
The 40-year-old oversaw the fourth-round clash at Villa Park earlier this month, where he and assistant Nick Greenhalgh made a series of questionable decisions. The first of these occurred just 14 minutes into the game when Tammy Abraham opened the scoring despite a Villa player being in an offside position in the build-up.
While the officials correctly sent Marco Bizot off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity, they failed to dismiss Lucas Digne for a shin-high tackle on Jacob Murphy.
Digne was at the centre of another contentious moment as Kavanagh chose to award a free-kick for a handball offence that was evidently committed inside the penalty area.
Following these incidents, both Kavanagh and Greenhalgh were given the following weekend off. However, Kavanagh did officiate the Europa Conference League play-off match between Kosovo champions FC Drita and NK Celje of Slovenia just days before.
The Premier League has now confirmed his return to English football for game week 28, with Kavanagh poised to oversee Palace's trip to Old Trafford. He will be accompanied on the pitch by linesmen Dan Cook and Ian Hussin, with Sam Barrott serving as the fourth official.
Tony Harrington will head VAR from Stockley Park, assisted by Neil Davies. Meanwhile, Kavanagh's Villa Park assistant Greenhalgh has been overlooked for Premier League duty.
He'll instead be officiating Bristol City's Championship fixture against Watford at Ashton Gate on Friday evening. Gameweek 29 has also seen its officials confirmed by the Premier League.
While Kavanagh will take charge of Arsenal's away fixture at Brighton, Greenhalgh appears set to continue his absence from top-flight matches. It comes as Friday's clash between Villa and Wolves at Molineux will be officiated by Craig Pawson.
Unai Emery will hope to retain the Villans' current position of third in the Premier League when the Midlands derby gets underway at 8pm. With just 11 matches remaining of 2025/26 and 10 points behind league leaders Arsenal, the title looks to be out of the frame.
Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier gesture toward Chris Kavanagh
Chris Kavanagh is back in action this weekend after his performance during Villa vs Newcastle(Image: Dan Istitene, Getty Images)
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However, given Manchester City sit just five points ahead of them, Villa could look to secure their first-ever second-place finish in the Premier League come May. To have any hopes of that happening, the Villans must put Rob Edwards' rock-bottom Wolves to the sword.
The Black Country outfit head into the match having won just one game this season, 20th in the league standings and facing the imminent risk of relegation to the Championship. But having held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw last week, anything could happen when they go head-to-head with Villa.