Newcastle United latest news: The Premier League and PGMOL have revealed who will referee this weekend’s Tyne-Wear derby.
Eddie Howe’s side will be desperate to avenge their loss at the Stadium of Light in December on home turf this weekend and give their fans something to shout about heading into the final international break of the season. The Magpies have won their last two Premier League matches, ending a 14-year wait for a victory at Stamford Bridge last time out in the league, but were comfortably beaten against Barcelona in midweek.
Any chance of silverware has now passed them by and the Magpies know that their only route back into Europe next season is through the Premier League. A strong finish to this campaign will help them achieve that goal - and that begins with a victory over their fiercest rivals.
Premier League announce Newcastle United v Sunderland referee
Ahead of Sunday’s clash at St James’ Park, which will kick-off at the early time of midday, the Premier League and PGMOLhave announced that Anthony Taylor will be the man to referee the game. Taylor’s last Newcastle United refereeing appointment came last month as he oversaw their 2-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Taylor has refereed Sunderland more recently than that, overseeing their FA Cup defeat against Port Vale. Taylor has also refereed a Tyne-Wear derby match before, taking charge of Sunderland’s win at St James’ Park back in December 2014.
This weekend, Taylor will be assisted by Adam Nunn and Gary Beswick, the latter of whom may be familiar to Magpies fans. Beswick was an assistant at Villa Park earlier this year during Newcastle United’s controversial 2-1 FA Cup win.
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Beswick was not the assistant that failed to spot an offside in the build-up to Tammy Abraham’s goal or that Lucas Digne had handled the ball inside the box, but he was very close to Digne’s tackle on Jacob Murphy that could have easily been a red card for the French international. Following that game, referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant Nick Greenhalgh were stood down from Premier League duties.
VAR was not in operation that evening and could not overturn the incorrect calls made by the officials, of which, Howe believed many went against his side:“Yeah, that was certainly a tough first half for us,” Howe responded. “Obviously we got the benefit of replays on the bench and you can see what's right and what's wrong and we felt really agreed in that first period that every decision seemed like it was going against us.
“The officials don't make any decision on purpose, it is what they think at the time, but without VAR I thought there was a lot of errors today. Once the decision is made and it seems like there was no way back, there's nothing you can do.
“You've got to move on quite quickly, although all through that half, it seemed like I was debating a referee decision. That's not me, I don't do that. But I felt that there were so many [decisions] going against us.”
Andy Madley will act as fourth official between the two benches at St James’ Park on Sunday. Paul Howard will be on VAR duty at Stockley Park and he will be assisted by Sian Massey-Ellis.
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