Official at heart of Leeds United fury vs Sunderland appointed as referee for Man Utd trip
The Premier League have confirmed which referee will take charge of Leeds United's Monday-night trip to Old Trafford.
The Premier League have confirmed their latest round of referee appointments with Paul Tierney to take charge of Leeds United’s trip to Manchester United.
Leeds head to Old Trafford on Monday night having booked themselves a trip to Wembley following last weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final penalty-shootout victory at West Ham. Daniel Farke’s side will hope to build momentum heading into the home straight having not won a Premier League game for two months.
Hosts Manchester United will have gone more than three weeks without a game by Monday, given their previous FA Cup elimination. Michael Carrick’s side are fighting for Champions League qualification having improved greatly since their former midfielder replaced Ruben Amorim.
Ahead of Monday’s Old Trafford meeting, the Premier League have confirmed Tierney will be the man to take charge of a huge game for either side. He will be assisted by Richard West and Scott Ledger, with Adam Herczeg as fourth official and John Brooks on VAR duties.
Much of Tierney’s season so far has been split between the Premier League and Championship, with the referee only taking charge of seven top-flight games. He blows for 17.43 fouls and brandishes 3.43 yellow cards per game on average, making him one of the more lenient officials.
Monday will be Tierney’s first Premier League game this season in charge of both Leeds and Manchester United. The 45-year-old was in the middle at St Andrew’s when Farke’s side beat Birmingham City on penalties in the FA Cup fourth round.
Paul Tierney role in Leeds United fury vs Sunderland
That game passed without any major issues but Tierney has been involved in a recent controversy surrounding Leeds. He was on VAR duties when Stuart Attwell refereed last month’s 1-0 defeat at home to Sunderland in which the Whites were denied a clear first-half penalty.
Sunderland defender Luke O’Nien grabbed Pascal Struijk around the neck inside his own box but despite calls for a spot-kick, referee Attwell waved play on. Tierney checked the incident at Stockley Park but opted against recommending an on-field review - a decision which has now been confirmed as incorrect.
The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel unanimously voted shortly after the incident that officials got that decision wrong. 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.’
Tierney also had a role in another incident which wrongly went against Leeds, although this time he was not the one at fault. In the next league game after Sunderland, Gabriel Gudmundsson was shown two yellow cards by referee Thomas Bramall in a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace.
The KMI panel has since confirmed Gudmundsson should not have received the second yellow and Bramall had seemingly forgotten about the left-back’s initial booking. He was reminded by the Palace players and had to confer with the fourth official, Tierney, who reminded him before a red card was brandished.