Premier League confirm Leeds United vs Aston Villa referee decision ahead of Elland Road meeting
Leeds United welcome Aston Villa to Elland Road on Sunday for huge Premier League clash.
The Premier League have confirmed their latest round of referee appointments with Rob Jones to take charge of Leeds United vs Aston Villa on Sunday.
Leeds are back at Elland Road for the first time in almost a month looking to recover from a difficult period on the road. Daniel Farke’s side lost back-to-back away games at Brighton and Nottingham Forest, conceding six goals in the process, and have had a two-week international break to stew on those disappointing performances.
Things have been better at home, with Everton, Bournemouth, Newcastle and West Ham all leaving Elland Road with bloodied noses and points dropped this season. Villa will arguably provide Leeds’ toughest Elland Road test, however, having bounced back from a slow start to win five of their last six in the league.
Ahead of another big weekend, the Premier League have announced their referee appointments with Jones assigned to Sunday’s Elland Road clash. He will be assisted by Neil Davies and Wade Smith, with Peter Bankes as fourth official and Paul Tierney on VAR duties.
Jones has taken charge of six Premier League meetings so far this season, blowing for 17.83 fouls and brandishing 2.5 yellow cards per game on average, making him one of the more lenient top-flight officials on both counts. The experienced referee has been involved once with Leeds but it wasn’t in the league.
Leeds United ‘embarrassed’ last time Rob Jones took charge
Jones took charge of the Whites’ Carabao Cup second-round exit to Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday back in August. A 1-1 draw after 90 minutes, the Hillsborough meeting was decided on penalties and misses from Sean Longstaff, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Joel Piroe sent Leeds crashing out in embarrassing fashion.
“Yes, it hurts, of course, because we were the favourites today,” Farke said after that defeat. “We are playing in the Premier League and we have travelled to an away ground at the Championship level and, of course, we are the favourites and want to go through into the next round.
“We feel a bit embarrassed that we don’t win such a game and you can just say sorry because they [the fans] made the trip and wanted to celebrate. Of course we would have wished to have given them a better outcome and also got into the next round.”
Farke will be hoping his side give a much better account of themselves come Sunday, with Leeds needing to be near-perfect if they are to take anything from an in-form Villa. The German is hoping to welcome Willy Gnonto back into his squad after two more weeks of full training, following a combination of calf issues and hernia surgery that’s kept the Italian out since mid-September.
A number of first-team squad members still have international football to play over the next 24 hours but all look to have come through their weekend games unscathed. Club captain Ethan Ampadu should return well-rested in particular, given he’s banned for Wales’ decisive World Cup qualifier against North Macedonia this evening.
Weekend visitors Villa have been left sweating on the fitness of Ezri Konsa, who missed England’s win over Albania on Sunday due to a minor calf problem. Fellow defender Lamare Bogarde also withdrew from Netherlands Under-21 duty while Tyrone Mings has missed recent weeks with a hamstring injury.