Arsenal learn Sunderland ref & VAR official dropped after Villa error

The Premier League have confirmed their selection of match officials for the upcoming round of fixtures, including Arsenal’s trip away to face Sunderland.

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The Premier League have officially announced their match official picks for the upcoming fourth round of fixtures, with Arsenal to play Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, September 12th at 20:00 BST.

John Brooks will referee the fixture, assisted by James Mainwaring and Wade Smith. Elliot Bell will be the fourth official.

Then Stuart Attwell will be on VAR, with Edward Smart as the assistant VAR to complete the officiating team.

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Brooks hasn’t refereed a huge number of Arsenal matches, though all eight of his Gunners games have come in the three seasons prior to this one.

Arsenal initially had a terrible record with Brooks refereeing, losing three of their first four games. But they’ve since won three of the following four, for an overall win rate of four in eight. The only draw was last season’s match away to Brentford in February.

The Gunners also can’t really blame their poorer results in that run on the referee, as he’s never given a penalty or a red card against the club.

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In other refereeing news, Jarred Gillett has been named as the referee for Bournemouth-Brentford this weekend, despite a major error in Arsenal’s recent match against Aston Villa.

The Premier League’s KMI panel unanimously agreed that Gillett should have awarded Arsenal a penalty against Villa, that VAR James Bell should have recommended a review to award the penalty, and that Gillett should have dismissed Ian Maatsen for a second yellow card after that review.

Bell’s mistake was perhaps that more costly, as Gillett missing the contact in real time was more excuseable than the VAR failing to spot it with the replays. So it’s not a huge surprise Bell isn’t on VAR duties this weekend.