Premier League makes official decision ahead of Everton vs Leicester City at Goodison Park

Everton look ahead to the weekend with a lot of positivity, having won their last two games under David Moyes.

The Toffees welcome Leicester to Goodison Park, in what could be a vital clash at the bottom end of the table. Everton currently sit 16th in the Premier League table, seven points ahead of the Foxes.

They won 1-0 in their last game against Brighton, in which Iliman Ndiaye scored the only goal of the game. He has scored five goals now this season, and will hope to add to his tally against a Leicester side that have won just one of their last eight matches.

Moyes has now won two of his three opening games for Everton, with the win at Brighton being preceded by an impressive 3-2 win over Tottenham. He will hope to make it three of his opening four this weekend.

Premier League make referee appointments ahead of Everton vs Leicester

The Premier League has appointed Darren Bond as the referee for Saturday afternoon’s game. He has taken charge of 16 games this season in all competitions, handing out 71 yellow cards and one red, an average of 4.44 yellows per game. He was last seen as a fourth official during Liverpool’s 4-1 win against Ipswich Town last week, and is yet to referee in an Everton game this season.

Bond’s assistants will be Scott Ledger and Mat Wilkes, who both assisted Bond during the 4-1 Liverpool win. Ledger is yet to appear in a Toffees game this season, but Wilkes was one of the assistants during Everton’s 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in December.

Andrew Kitchen has been appointed as the fourth official for the game, he has refereed 18 games in all competitions this season, mainly in the Championship. Kitchen has shown 67 yellow cards and one red. He was last seen during Hull City’s 3-0 win against Sheffield United in the Championship last week.

Stuart Atwell was is the VAR for the game, he was involved in a 2-0 Everton win against Nottingham Forest last season, when there were three penalty decisions that went against Forest. They were then seen posting on X, claiming that Atwell is a Luton Town fan, who were fellow relegation candidates at the time. The FA then fined £750,000 for having questioned the integrity of the officials.

Tarkowski praises Everton

Speaking ahead of the weekend’s game, Everton defender James Tarkowski said: “I've never questioned it at all: the work; the effort; the togetherness; the resilience. Maybe quality at times hasn't been good enough, but that resilience in our team has never left us. It was well on display today and I'm proud of the team.

“It's tough losing a manager because we're at fault for that, so that's never nice for us. But football changes, a manager’s come in and you get that positive feeling about the place again, which happens with a new manager. And we've responded to it, so to win the way we have done – two tough games we've played there. To get two wins the way we have, is really, really pleasing. And hopefully we get a few more down the line.”

In other news, The Friedkin Group have reportedly hatched a plan to back Everton manager David Moyes with funds to sign a striker before the end of the transfer window.