Newcastle United meet Fulham on Saturday, looking to bounce back from their draw with Everton at St James’ Park.
The Premier League has announced that Sam Allison will oversee Newcastle United’s match against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon. Allison, who made his Premier League debut in December, will be in charge of a Newcastle game for the first time.
Allison became the first black referee to take charge of a top-flight game in 15 years when he officiated Luton Town’s 3-2 victory over Sheffield United at the end of last year. Allison will be aided by Eddie Smart and Nick Greenhalgh, with Simon Hooper serving as the fourth official.
Jarred Gillett will be on VAR duty for Saturday’s match, which the Australian official knows all too well. Gillett refereed their game in the FA Cup Fourth Round in January, which the Magpies won 2-0 thanks to goals from Sean Longstaff and Dan Burn.
That meeting was relatively uncontroversial, in contrast to the league match between the two teams in December. Newcastle won the match comfortably 3-0, but only after Fulham were relegated to ten men in the first half due to Raul Jimenez’s foul on Longstaff.
🤕 He's teased a return to action 👀#NUFChttps://t.co/TVadi7yWN0
— Joe Buck (@16joebuck) April 1, 2024
The Mexican, expecting his opposite number to loft a ball, sprang and attempted to block a pass, but instead caught Longstaff in the head with his hip. Referee Sam Barrott was persuaded by VAR to review the decision, and he chose to show the former Wolves striker a straight red card.
After the game, Fulham manager Marco Silva lambasted the decision to send off Jimenez as well as the referee’s overall performance: “He lost the momentum to go in, but it’s not something serious.” Silva stated.
“He jumped into the player, but you can’t see anything critical or wrong with the other player. A yellow is correct. VAR is attempting to discover all of these opportunities to give. To justify their position? I do not know. It’s evident that he [Jimenez] lost momentum. He should have done it differently. Going for a red card feels quite odd.
“It was an unusual afternoon for the referee. I attempted to chat with him afterwards, but he almost raced into the changing room. That is exactly what we are dealing with right now.”
