Everton fans will not be pleased with the Premier League’s announcement ahead of the game against Arsenal.
After Everton’s 2-0 defeat against Chelsea, the last thing David Moyes will want is a potential spanner in the works being thrown ahead of kick-off.
While the Toffees go into the game as underdogs, they have done well at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and could look to capitalise on Arsenal’s sluggishness from their 2-1 win against Wolves on Saturday.
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Premier League reveal officials for Everton vs Arsenal game
The Premier League, via their official website, made an announcement on all 10 games in Matchweek 17.
They revealed who the match referees, assistants, fourth officials and VARs will be over the course of the weekend.
For the Everton and Arsenal clash, Sam Barrott will be the referee and will have a number of big decisions to make during the 90 minutes.
Tim Wood and Wade Smith will be his assistants, while Oliver Langford will be the fourth official for the game.
Michael Salisbury has been named as the VAR and Peter Wright will be serving as the assistant VAR.
Sam Barrott made a huge error in the Everton vs Aston Villa clash in 2025
The Everton fans will remember the game against Aston Villa at the start of 2025, which their side ended up losing by a 1-0 scoreline.
Ollie Watkins scored the winner in what was Moyes’ first game back at the club.
However, the scoreline could have been a lot different had Barrott not made an error that cost the Blues the match.
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Amadou Onana was already on a yellow card and committed another foul later on in the game, which most certainly would have been a yellow had he not been booked already.
He had put his hands on the back of Orel Mangala and pushed him to the ground with some malice.
However, Barrott decided not to book the Belgium international, a decision that BBC Sport’s Marc Albrighton disagreed with as well.
He said: “Amadou Onana is very lucky there. He is treading a very fine line now, having already been booked.
“He put his hands on the back of Orel Mangala. Very close to a red.”
Everton fans would not have Barrott in charge of the weekend’s game, but they will now have to hope that he ends up having a good outing.
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