Thomas Bramall will take cost of an Arsenal senior match for the primary time when Crystal Palace go to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, in a Premier League fixture that additionally sees Chris Kavanagh return to VAR responsibility for the primary time in over a season.
Photograph by Lewis Storey/Getty Photos
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Bramall, 35, is without doubt one of the newer additions to the Premier League’s Choose Group One. A former PE and arithmetic instructor from Sheffield, he joined the highest flight in 2022 and has since refereed a variety of fixtures together with Liverpool v Tottenham final season, which ended 5-1 to the hosts.
He has by no means overseen an Arsenal first-team fixture however has officiated 4 of the membership’s under-21 matches, three of which resulted in defeat, with six yellow playing cards to the younger Gunners proven throughout these video games.
Bramall has, nonetheless, refereed six Crystal Palace Premier League matches, none of which they’ve misplaced (W3 D3), reserving 9 Palace gamers, sending one off for 2 yellows, and giving them one penalty.
If Bramall represents one thing new for Arsenal, the person accountable for VAR provides a way of annoying déjà vu. Kavanagh’s title stays acquainted, and never fondly, to Arsenal supporters after a sequence of high-profile controversies in latest seasons.
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As referee throughout final March’s win over Chelsea, Kavanagh ignored two main incidents that drew anger from gamers and followers alike: a transparent handball by Marc Cucurella within the space after a Jurrien Timber run, and a harmful Wesley Fofana stamp on Declan Rice.
Regardless of replays, VAR declined to intervene, ruling Cucurella’s arm place “anticipated” and the Fofana problem of “inadequate drive”.
Fofana, who had already examined the referee’s leniency all through the match, was ultimately booked not for a foul however for throwing a second ball onto the pitch throughout a Myles Lewis-Skelly throw-in.
Rice has additionally been concerned in one in all Kavanagh’s most angering calls. In a sport towards Brighton, he was despatched off for barely kicking the ball away after a foul, , who highlighted the inconsistency of permitting Joao Pedro to do the identical with out sanction. “We’ve messaged very clearly and strongly to the gamers in pre-season across the significance of not getting concerned with the ball as soon as the whistle is gone,” Webb mentioned afterwards, conceding that the rule had not been utilized evenly.
Photograph through BT Sport
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Additional flashpoints beneath Kavanagh embody his failure to penalise Robert Sánchez for clattering into Gabriel Jesus at head peak, an overturned penalty for Newcastle, and a sequence of contentious calls within the 2021 defeat to Aston Villa, when Emiliano Martínez’s foul on Alexandre Lacazette was dominated a free-kick to Villa and Ezri Konsa escaped with solely a yellow for bringing down Bukayo Saka when clear by way of.
Bukayo Saka fouled vs Aston Villa
Kavanagh has been on VAR responsibility for total, with three wins, one draw and three defeats. Sunday will probably be his first time overseeing an Arsenal fixture from the sales space because the 2023-24 season when he oversaw Arsenal’s 4-3 win at Luton.
He has already refereed one Arsenal match this season – the 1-0 defeat at Anfield