Premier League confirm debut appointment for Leeds United vs Crystal Palace
A referee will make his Premier League debut during Leeds United’s Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The Premier League have confirmed their latest round of referee appointments with Adam Herczeg to make his top-flight debut in charge of Leeds United vs Crystal Palace.
Leeds welcome Palace to Elland Road on Sunday looking to continue their excellent start to the campaign. Monday’s 4-1 win at home to Newcastle United pulled the Whites up to third in the table and they remain unbeaten in four top-flight matches so far.
Visitors Palace have endured a more difficult start to the season under new head coach Pierre Sage. A 3-2 win at Fulham remains their only victory with games against Everton, Manchester City and Ipswich Town all ending in defeat.
Ahead of Sunday’s meeting, the Premier League have confirmed the appointment of Herczeg as referee. He will be assisted by Tim Wood and Simon Long at Elland Road, with Farai Hallam as fourth official and Paul Tierney on VAR duties.
Sunday will be Herczeg’s first ever Premier League gig, with the young but highly-regarded referee handed his first move up from the EFL. The Durham-based official has been in charge of four Championship games so far this season, plus another two in the Carabao Cup.
In the Championship, Herczeg has blown for 22.5 fouls and brandished 3.5 yellow cards per game on average this campaign, making him one of the more lenient officials. Last season he took charge of 23 second-tier games having risen quickly through the group officiating League One and League Two matches.
Herczeg only took charge of seven Championship games during the two years in which Leeds were in the league under Farke, albeit none involving the Whites. He will therefore be making his Elland Road debut alongside a first ever Premier League game when Crystal Palace come to visit on Sunday.
The appointment of Tierney as VAR assistant should provide some experience in the background but Leeds won’t have fond memories of him reviewing decisions at Stockley Park. Back in March, it was Tierney on VAR duties when the Whites were denied a clear penalty during a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland.
Black Cats defender Luke O’Nien grabbed Pascal Struijk round the neck and pulled him down during the first-half, with referee Stuart Attwell waving away penalty claims and Tierney backing that decision. Leeds later received confirmation from the Premier League's Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel that the decision was a mistake.
The KMI panel voted unanimously to say the officials got it wrong. As reported by the BBC, the panel noted that Sunderland skipper O'Nien is 'not looking at the ball, places his arms around the neck of Struijk in a clear non-footballing action and stops the Leeds United attacker from progressing towards goal.’