Thomas Bramall has been appointed as referee for Sunderland’s Premier League home clash with Brighton and Hove Albion just over a month after making a much debated call in the Black Cats draw at Brentford.
The Black Cats have experienced mixed fortunes in fixtures officiated by the Sheffield-based referee in recent seasons with four wins, five draws and two defeats over the last seven years. Sunderland were still a League One club when Bramall oversaw a 2-1 home win against Bristol Rovers in December 2019 as Adam Matthews and Josh Maja found the net at the Stadium of Light before he was the man in the middle for a penalty shoot-out defeat in a League Cup tie against Hull City just over nine months later.
Sunderland went unbeaten in three Championship fixtures with Bramall on the whistle as they collected seven points from a home game against Portsmouth and away days at Cardiff City and Millwall. However, the Black Cats are yet to win a Premier League game overseen by Bramall after he officiated a 3-1 defeat at West Ham United and draws against Crystal Palace and Everton last season and last month’s 1-1 draw at Brentford as an Enzo Le Fee penalty earned Regis Le Bris’ side a share of the spoils in London.
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However, that last game did bring some controversy as a Dan Ballard goal was ruled out after Bramall ruled Kevin Danso’s position in front of Caoimhin Kelleher had obstructed the Bees keeper’s view of the goal. That decision was unanimously supported by the Premier League's Key Match Incident Panel after they reviewed the incident in the days after the game.
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They said: "The VAR intervention to disallow the goal for a line of vision offence was fully supported. Danso was in a clear offside position, directly in the line of vision of the goalkeeper and impacted his ability to make a save."
Bramall will be assisted by Gary Beswick and Craig Taylor and Steve Martin has been appointed as fourth official at the Stadium of Light. Neil Davies has been named as VAR official as he oversees events from Stockley Park and his assistant will be Adrian Holmes.