Leeds United man dismissed with long Whites history as officials selected for Nottingham Forest clash

A very familiar face with a mixed Leeds United history will be the man in the middle for Friday night’s Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest under the Elland Road lights.

Merseyside-based official Peter Bankes refereed his first game involving Leeds back in November 2015 when overseeing the 1-0 Championship defeat at Queens Park Rangers in which Charlie Austin bagged the only goal of the game.

Leeds, in the Massimo Cellino era, were under the care of Steve Evans whose side featured the likes of Lewis Cook, Chris Wood, Liam Bridcutt and Scott Wootton - the latter trio of whom were all booked.

Bankes has since refereed another 24 Leeds games in the decade that has followed and the Merseyside official will oversee his 26th contest involving the Whites when taking charge of Friday night’s visit of Forest to Elland Road.

Official has overseen 13 Leeds wins

Bankes has already been the man in the middle for two other Leeds Premier League games this season, namely August’s goalless draw at home to Newcastle United which featured just two yellow cards and November’s 3-2 defeat at Manchester City.

Bankes has refereed 16 Premier League games so far this season and dished out two red cards which were both for Chelsea players in Robert Sanchez in September’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester United and Marc Cucurella in last month’s 2-1 defeat at Fulham.

Of the 25 Leeds games he has officiated, 13 have ended in Whites wins, four in draws and nine in defeats.

For Leeds, those 25 games have featured 51 yellow cards and just one sending off, for Kalvin Phillips for his late, high challenge in another 1-0 loss at QPR back in January 2020.

Eddie Smart and Blake Antrobus will be the assistant referees for Friday night’s match at Elland Road for which Andrew Kitchen is fourth official.

Craig Pawson and assistant Tim Wood are on VAR.