Craig Pawson has been appointed the referee for Arsenal’s visit to unbeaten Leicester City on Saturday.

The referee was in charge of 21 Premier League games last season, handing out seven red cards and awarding just two penalties. Leicester were on the end of one of those cards, when Paul Konchesky was sent off in a fiery derby with Aston Villa.

After last weekend saw Mike Dean take centre stage against Chelsea, the appointment of Pawson may be a reassuring one for the Gunners.

His two games in charge of Arsenal so far have seen him award just four yellow cards in low-key affairs. Pawson’s first Arsenal game was the straightforward 3-0 defeat of Burnley at the Emirates Stadium last November. He was in the middle once again on New Year’s Day when the Gunners disappointingly lost 2-0 away to Southampton.

Arsenal last saw Pawson in pre-season, when he refereed the Barclays Asia Trophy game against Everton.

 

Amazingly, Mike Dean has been given a game for the upcoming weekend. The experienced referee lost complete control of Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, inexplicably failing to send off Chelsea striker Diego Costa.

The controversial referee will be in the middle for Norwich City’s visit to West Ham.