Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn of Newcastle United react after referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh failed to award a penalty during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United on February 14, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)placeholder image
Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn of Newcastle United react after referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh failed to award a penalty during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United on February 14, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Premier League has confirmed the match officials for Newcastle United versus Sunderland.
The Magpies won 3-1 at Villa Park back in February, and few have forgotten the mistakes referee Chris Kavanagh and linesman Nick Greenhalgh made with no VAR in action.
Greenhalgh failed to spot the offside in the build-up to Tammy Abraham’s opener and didn’t intervene when Kavanagh awarded a free-kick instead of a penalty after Kieran Trippier’s cross clearly hit Lucas Digne’s arm in the box.
Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney described the decision as one of the worst he’s seen in football. Fortunately, the resulting free-kick did lead to United’s equaliser as Sandro Tonali’s shot deflected in off Douglas Luiz.
Tonali later scored again to put Eddie Howe’s side in front before Nick Woltemade added a third in the closing stages.
Official involved in Aston Villa v Newcastle United controversy gets Tyne-Wear derby role
As a result of their errors, Kavanagh and Greenhalgh weren’t assigned any Premier League matches the following weekend and to the relief of Newcastle fans, they won’t be at St James’ Park this weekend.
Instead, it is Gary Beswick, the other linesman during the Villa controversy, who will be on duty. Although part of the team at Villa Park, Beswick avoided making any individual mistakes and also avoided being dropped by the PGMOL.
Beswick will run as linesman alongside Adam Nunn, while Anthony Taylor is the man in the middle. Paul Howard will conduct VAR duties from Stockley Park, assisted by Sian Massey-Ellis.
Eddie Howe looks ahead to Newcastle United v Sunderland
The Tyne-Wear derby promises to be a fiery encounter, as Newcastle look to gain revenge for their 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at the Stadium of Light in December.
Speaking after Wednesday’s 7-2 Champions League defeat to Barcelona, Howe said: “Yeah, I've got no problems picking myself up. It's more the players. I'm able to move quite quickly through things in the game and the review process to then think of the future very quickly.
“Now it's all about Sunderland. It's not about what's happened today. It's about learning from today and evolving and changing if we need to.
“So I think that's quite a good game for us to go straight into because there's no time for any other thought than that one.”
He added: “Yeah, it's huge. I think it's difficult for me to talk about it. I think we've just got to play. We've got to play like our lives depend on it.
“It's such a big game for the city, for our supporters, for everyone connected with the club. We know that. We knew that before the first game. We know it even more now, so we need to deal with this very quickly and then look to Sunday.”
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