The Premier League have confirmed their match officials for the upcoming round of fixtures, including Arsenal’s trip away to Sunderland.
Arsenal have one game remaining before the November international break, and it’s a visit to high-flying Sunderland for a Premier League match on Saturday.
The two teams have now learned who will be officiating the contest, with the Premier League confirming that Craig Pawson is set to referee, assisted by James Mainwaring and Mat Wilkes. Anthony Backhouse will be the fourth official.
As for VAR, James Bell is in charge, with Adam Nunn as his assistant for the match.
Pawson hasn’t always been popular among Arsenal fans, with his reputation hitting an all-time low in Feburary 2021, when he sent off David Luiz and Bernd Leno in an infamous defeat to Wolves.
Things did improve after that, but then went back to square one as he sent off Myles Lewis-Skelly for a foul against West Ham United.
Though Lewis-Skelly did bring down Mohammed Kudus and arguably denied a goalscoring opportunity, the foul on the halfway line was far from a “clear” opportunity, and Kudus elbowed Lewis-Skelly in the head before the foul.
In Pawson’s defence, he initially showed a yellow card, only for VAR to recommend an upgrade. But both Pawson and the VAR official missed Kudus’ initial offence whilst conducting their reviews.
Pawson didn’t get another Arsenal game for the next eight months, but he’ll be back involved in officiating the Gunners on Saturday.