Newcastle United v Bournemouth referee confirmed: VAR 'villain' still dropped by Premier League

Following last weekend’s postponed matches, Premier League football will return for the majority of clubs this weekend with seven matches going ahead as planned.

Newcastle United host newly-promoted AFC Bournemouth this Saturday (3pm kick-off) as Magpies head coach Eddie Howe hopes to get back to winning ways against his former club.

Craig Pawson has been appointed as the referee for the match at St James’s Park with Marc Perry and Scott Ledger as assistants, Chris Kavanagh as fourth official, Stuart Attwell as VAR and Constantine Hatzidakis as assistant VAR.

The last Newcastle match Pawson officiated came in the final game of last season as United beat Burnley 2-1.

The match saw Callum Wilson score a penalty, awarded by VAR, and a second half strike before Maxwel Cornet pulled a goal back at Turf Moor.

The 43-year-old referee was set to officiate Newcastle's trip to West Ham United last weekend before it was postponed due to the passing of Elizabeth II.

Last week also saw Lee Mason dropped from the weekend’s round of Premier League matches following a VAR decision that led to Newcastle United’s disallowed goal against Crystal Palace earlier in the month.

The call was labelled one of the ‘worst’ VAR blunders since its inception in the Premier League in 2019 as Tyrick Mitchell’s own goal was ruled out due to a foul on Vicente Guaita by Joe Willock despite the Newcastle midfielder being pushed into the Palace goalkeeper.

Mason was the video assistant referee for the match and intervened to prompt referee Michael Salisbury to review the goal and rule it out.

The incident led to Newcastle United lodging an official complaint to the Premier League, who have looked into the incident with the assistance of the referees’ body PGMOL.

The Professional Game Match Officials’ Board acknowledged the incident and subtly implied that an error was made.

Following the postponements, Mason remains dropped from Premier League fixtures this coming weekend while Salisbury has been moved to VAR duty for Friday’s match between Nottingham Forest and Fulham (8pm kick-off).