Liverpool have discovered the team of officials who’ll be involved in next Sunday’s Premier League clash against Brighton, and rarely will the appointments have drawn such attention from Reds supporters.
The fallout from last Saturday’s controversial defeat to Tottenham rumbles on amid the top flight confirming the assignment of match officials for next weekend’s fixtures (via premierleague.com).
Anthony Taylor will be the man in the middle at the Amex Stadium, with Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn as his assistants. Craig Pawson is the fourth official, with Chris Kavanagh on VAR, assisted by Matthew Wilkes.
There are two notable absentees from the Matchweek 8 appointments. Darren England and Dan Cook, who were on VAR duty for Liverpool’s contentious loss at Spurs three days ago, won’t be involved in any Premier League games next weekend.
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At least those tasked with appointing refereeing teams for top-flight fixtures have done the sensible thing and removed England and Cook from the spotlight for the upcoming matchweek.
There’s no way either of that duo could’ve been asked to go back into the public glare, either on-field or in VAR, after the shambolic events of last Saturday in north London.
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Liverpool’s recent history with Taylor in charge is encouraging, with the Reds unbeaten on the last 13 occasions that the 44-year-old has refereed them, a run stretching back to February 2021 (Transfermarkt).
There could perhaps be even greater scrutiny on Kavanagh and Wilkes in the VAR booth, in light of what happened during the Tottenham game three days ago.
All we ask from the officiating team next Sunday is that they get the big decisions right. Nobody wants the post-match discussion to be dominated by those individuals, certainly not to the extent that the referees on duty last weekend have been in the headlines.