Premier League makes official decision ahead of Bournemouth vs Liverpool

Liverpool will want to get back to winning ways this weekend as they face a trip to Bournemouth to play a high-flying Cherries side on Saturday.

The Reds lost 3-2 to PSV in their last match in the Champions League, although they still ended the final round of fixtures top of the table, and have set up a game against either Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Benfica or Brest in the round of 16.

Arne Slot’s side will now turn their attention back to the Premier League, as they play against a Bournemouth side who sit just one point off the Champions League places. Andoni Iraola’s side beat Nottingham Forest 5-0 in their last match, and are unbeaten in 12 matches.

Premier League appoints referee ahead of Bournemouth vs Liverpool

The Premier League has appointed Darren England as the referee for the game on Sunday. He has officiated in 12 games this season, showing 53 yellow cards, and two reds. That works out at an average of 4.42 yellows per game. England was last seen during Everton’s 3-2 win against Tottenham earlier in the month, and is yet to take charge of a Liverpool game this season.

His assistants will be Akil Howson, and Steve Meredith, who have both been assistants in nine games this season. Only Meredith has been involved in a Liverpool game this year, which came in a 2-2 draw with Fulham in December.

Steve Martin has been appointed as the fourth official. He has refereed four games this season, handing out 11 yellow cards in total. Martin was last seen during a Women’s Super League game between Aston Villa and Leicester, in which he showed six yellow cards. John Brooks will be the VAR, he was taken off a Merseyside Derby, two years ago due to a wrong decision that he’d made in a previous game between Brighton and Crystal Palace.

Brooks has refereed in nine games this season, showing 45 yellow cards, amounting to an average of 5 per game. He was last seen refereeing a Europa League match between Braga and Lazio this week. The game kicks off at 3pm from the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, with Liverpool hoping to keep rivals Arsenal at bay, who have a game against Manchester City on Sunday.

Slot on Bournemouth

Speaking of the challenge facing his side, Reds boss Arne Slot said: “It’s a big one and this is probably going to sound strange [but] I knew this already when we played the second half against them in our home game. We were 3-0 up at half-time and I was expecting a second half where we could just control the game, have the ball a bit and maybe score the fourth one – but they just kept on going at us for 45 minutes and that showed me the character of the team. Since then they have been outstanding. They were before that game also. Because we were 3-0 up at half-time, we didn’t really match the first half, in my opinion, maybe we deserved to be up but not with three goals.

“And afterwards they have beaten so many strong teams and there is a simple reason for that: a lot of quality. Created by Richard [Hughes], of course, our current sporting director who worked there for a few years. And he hired a fantastic manager as well. Why is he a fantastic manager? He has a great game plan and his players work incredibly hard. And then in a different way than Arsenal, they are also a threat on set-pieces. Where Arsenal nine out of 10 times does the same, they always come up with worked ones that have been very useful for them as well. So, in every department a very good and strong team and they deserve to be where they are – maybe they even deserve a bit higher than the position they are at the moment.”

In other news, Arne Slot provided the latest on his injured players ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.