Premier League makes referee decision ahead of Arsenal trip to Crystal Palace
Arsenal play against Crystal Palace after the two met in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.
Arsenal will face deja vu this weekend as they make the trip to Selhurst Park to play against Crystal Palace for the second time this week following a meeting in the Carabao Cup.
Wednesday night’s game was a great result for Mikel Arteta’s side who won 3-2 at the Emirates. They went 1-0 down to a goal from Jean Phillipe Mateta, before Gabriel Jesus equalised, and then took the lead in the 73rd minute.
Jesus then scored again in the 81st minute to complete a hat-trick and to also score his first goal of the season for the Gunners. Former Arsenal man Eddie Nketiah scored a consolation to make it 3-2. Arsenal will aim to make it back-to-back wins against Oliver Glasner’s side who will welcome the Gunners to Selhurst Park, hoping to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League after a 3-1 victory over Brighton last weekend.
Premier League make referee appointment for Arsenal vs Palace game
The Premier League have appointed Simon Hooper for Saturday’s game at Selhurst Park. He has officiated in 13 games this season, from the Premier League, Championship and League Cup.
Hooper has handed out 63 yellow cards this season, with two red cards. He was involved in the controversial match between Liverpool and Tottenham last season when the Reds had a Luis Diaz goal wrongly ruled out for offside. The linesman flagged against the Liverpool man and VAR did not correctly intervene to overturn the decision after a breakdown in communications. A PGMOL statement later admitted a significant human error.
Hooper is yet to officiate an Arsenal game this season, but did feature during Crystal Palace’s 3-1 win against Brighton as the fourth official last week. Adrian Holmes and Simon Long have been appointed as the assistant referees for the game. Holmes has been a first assistant in five games so far this season. Meanwhile, Long has been an assistant in six.
The fourth official on Saturday will be Oli Langford, who has refereed in three Championship matches this season. The most recent was Derby County’s 4-0 win over Portsmouth last Friday. The video assistant referee on Saturday will be Michael Salisbury, who has refereed three Premier League matches this season, including Crystal Palace’s 2-0 defeat against Fulham in November.