Ahead of the return to domestic action on Saturday, the Premier League have named a controversial choice as referee for Liverpool’s clash with Brighton.
The Reds are finally back after a 17-day break this weekend, having seen two league games postponed due to Queen’s death.
His last outing was a 2-1 win over Ajax in the Champions League, while his last league game was a 0-0 draw with Everton in the Merseyside derby almost a month ago.
That weekend brought controversy in another encounter, as West Ham suffered a 2-1 loss to Chelsea that saw David Moyes and Declan Rice criticize both the referee and VAR.
“How can you walk up to the monitor and call that a foul?” Rice said in his postgame interview.
“It’s an absolute disgrace.”
The midfielder was referring to an alleged foul by Jarrod Bowen on Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy which caused a Maxwel Cornet goal to be disallowed, denying West Ham a 2-2 draw.
Moyes accused Mendy of “faking injury”, which certainly seemed to be the case, describing it as an “absolutely rotten call by one of the supposedly elite referees”.
The referee that afternoon was Andy Madley, who has now been put in charge of Liverpool vs. Brighton on Saturday, as he was previously assigned the Wolves game prior to its postponement.
Although there was no penalty in the form of demotion for Madley or VAR Jarred Gillett, neither Moyes nor Rice were booked for their comments.
Madley has refereed Liverpool six times in his relatively short Premier League career so far, the most recent being a 2-2 draw with Fulham on the opening day of this season.
Between the controversy at Stamford Bridge and now, he has only been in charge of one other game, as referee of a UEFA Europa Conference League clash between Partizan Belgrade and OGC Nice.
Saturday’s VAR will be Simon Hooper, who has been in the cockpit at three Liverpool games in the past – wins over Crystal Palace, Brighton and Wolves.
