The Premier League have confirmed the referee, assistant, and VAR appointments for Arsenal’s next two games against Southampton and Manchester City.

Arsenal have two games coming up over the next eight days, facing Southampton at the Emirates Stadium before a trip to the Etihad to take on Manchester City.

The Premier League have confirmed the officiating appointments for both fixtures, with Simon Hooper set to take charge in the Southampton match before Michael Oliver takes over the whistle for the City clash.

Below are the appointments in full:

Arsenal vs Southampton – Friday, 21st April

Referee: Simon Hooper. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Andre Marriner. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh.

Manchester City vs Arsenal – Wednesday, 26th April

Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Ian Hussin. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: David Coote. Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart.

Though Arsenal fans will undoubtedly be able to think of one or two key incidents where he got things wrong, as with any referee, Michael Oliver remains the best that English officiating has to offer.

It’s no great surprise he’s been selected for the biggest game of the season, and we can only hope he isn’t a talking point afterwards.

As for Simon Hooper, it’s actually fairly uncommon that he officiates an Arsenal match. It’s only happened twice before, in the 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest in October and the 4-2 away victory over Aston Villa in February. At least that’s a good sign.

By contrast, Hooper has refereed plenty of Southampton games over the years, partly due to having refereed in the lower leagues at the same time the Saints were playing in League One.

In all, he’s officiated 15 of their games, with seven wins, five draws, and three defeats for Southampton in those matches.