Darren England has been appointed to referee Arsenal’s match against Ipswich Town on Friday night, refereeing the Gunners for just the fifth time.
The Premier League have confirmed that Darren England will referee Arsenal’s match against Ipswich Town at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night, assisted by Wade Smith and Akil Howson.
Lewis Smith will act as the fourth official, with Alex Chilowicz on VAR and Adam Nunn assisting him.
This is just the fifth time that England has refereed an Arsenal match, and the first time in almost 20 months.
England’s first match involving Arsenal was a 5-0 League Cup win over Nottingham Forest in 2019, and he went on to referee Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United in 2022, their 4-2 victory over Leicester City later that year, and their 4-1 win over Leeds United in April 2023.
The referee awarded a penalty to Arsenal in that Leeds match, converted by Gabriel Jesus. Until last week, that was the last time Jesus had scored two or more goals in a game, but he’s now done so in consecutive fixtures.
England is yet to award a red card to either team in a fixture involving Arsenal, and the same goes for awarding penalties against the Gunners. One other positive omen is that the home side has won in all four Arsenal games he’s refereed.
On the other hand, the last time England refereed Ispwich Town in north London was their first win of the season – against Tottenham Hotspur. The away side will hope for the same outcome this time around.