Premier League make Arsenal v Newcastle United official decision after VAR and Bruno Guimaraes controversy

The Premier League have announced that Paul Tierney will referee Newcastle United’s clash with Arsenal on Saturday night. The two sides played out a feisty encounter at St James’ Park back in November and with no love lost between the teams, another hotly fought tussle is expected this weekend.

The Magpies emerged victorious against the Gunners the last time the two teams met, however, their winning goal caused plenty of debate which resulted in Arsenal releasing a statement defending Mikel Arteta after he called the decision a ‘disgrace’ post-match. Anthony Gordon’s goal was subject to a very lengthy VAR check who had to determine if Joe Willock had kept the ball in play, whether Joelinton had fouled Gabriel and then whether Gordon was in an offside position before slamming the ball home.

All of this controversy followed a number of first-half incidents that raised the temperature of the clash at St James’ Park. Newcastle felt Kai Havertz should have been shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Sean Longstaff before Bruno Guimaraes caught Jorginho with his forearm.

Memories of this game lasted long in the memory and Tierney will have a big job in keeping tensions between the sides from overflowing this weekend. He will be assisted by Neil Davies and Nick Hopton in north London with Anthony Taylor on fourth official duty. VAR will be operated by Peter Bankes with Lee Betts acting as his assistant at Stockley Park.

Saturday will be Tierney’s first time in charge of a Newcastle United match this season with his last Magpies game coming at the City Ground last season - one that saw Newcastle awarded a late penalty after having a goal from Elliot Anderson controversially chalked off for offside. Tierney was also in charge of Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg win over Southampton at St James’ Park last season.

On that night, the Magpies progressed to the final with a 2-1 win over the Saints but played the last few minutes with ten men after Guimaraes was shown a straight red card. The Brazilian will be hoping to avoid being shown a yellow card by Tierney this weekend as he is just one booking away from a two-game Premier League ban.