Neil Swarbrick has refereed just one Arsenal game this season – the reverse of this fixture on Boxing Day at the Emirates.
That day, he issued four yellows – three to Arsenal – with Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, and Olivier Giroud all finding their way into the book. For West Brom, he booked only Ben Foster for timewasting after 83 minutes when it no longer mattered.
Expect more of the same at the Hawthornes on Saturday.
Giroud was the first to be booked after 41 minutes. Swarbrick penalised him for pulling back Evans, but in truth, the West Brom man went down easily. He then booked Gibbs in the 65th minute for a tackle that he ended up getting injured in and had to be replaced. He had taken a heavy touch and the clash with Claudio Yacob seemed accidental. The final card came for Ramsey after 88th minutes.
As for West Brom games, Swarbrick has refereed three this season and the Baggies have lost them all. In addition to the game at Arsenal, he also took charge of their 2-1 defeat at home to Everton in the second match of the season. Swarbrick was also in charge of their away defeat to Liverpool.
Swarbrick gave out four yellows in each of those games too, however the majority went to West Brom – three in each game. Makes the stats from the Arsenal game even more intriguing, huh?