Chelsea fans won’t be happy with two major Premier League decisions v Newcastle United

Eddie Howe and Enzo Maresca’s sides will kick-off locked on 63 points, with only goals scored separating them in the Premier League table. Newcastle United know a win would put them on the verge of Champions League qualification, whilst a win for the Blues would completely flip the script and leave Newcastle’s hopes dangling by a thread and potentially out of their control.

It will undoubtedly be a very tense 90 minutes on Tyneside and a match that could be decided by the finest margins, a piece of magic or a refereeing decision.

Premier League announce Newcastle United v Chelsea referee

Ahead of Sunday’s clash at St James’ Park, the Premier League have announced that John Brooks will be the man in charge of proceedings. Brooks has taken charge of three Newcastle United games so far this season, with the Magpies emerging victorious on all three occasions.

Brooks was referee for their 1-0 win over Arsenal back in November and also their 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium in the first-leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final. Brooks was then reacquainted with Newcastle at Wembley as he refereed Newcastle’s triumph over Liverpool.

Brooks has also refereed Chelsea three times this season - although their record with him in the middle is a complete contrast to their hosts. The Blues’ away defeats against Liverpool, Ipswich Town and Manchester City were all refereed by Brooks, with the first two awarded penalties by the Leicestershire based whistler.

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This weekend, Brooks will be assisted by Simon Bennett and Dan Cook with Rob Jones on fourth official duty. VAR will be operated by Darren England who will be assisted by Natalie Aspinall at Stockley Park.

Enzo Maresca’s ‘not ideal’ Newcastle United admission

With such huge stakes placed on what unfolds on Sunday, Newcastle United will be confident that their seven day preparation period will give them the time they need to get into the best possible shape. Chelsea, though, have not been afforded such a luxury.

A midday kick-off on Sunday means the Blues will have only around 60 hours to rest and recover between their Conference League clash with Djurgarden tonight and their trip to St James’ Park. Although Chelsea head into tonight’s game 4-1 ahead on aggregate, Maresca has vowed to play a strong team as they look to seal a place in the final.

“Tomorrow [v Djurgarden] is the game,” Maresca said on Wednesday. “That is our focus.

“For sure, 48 hours after tomorrow, to then play at 12pm on Sunday is not ideal and there is not a lot of time to recover. That is just something you have to deal with when you play in many competitions.

“It happened last week, we arrived back from Sweden at 5am in the morning and we played the game on Sunday. We will try to be ready for tomorrow’s game and then focus on Sunday.”

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