Premier League confirm Leeds United vs Crystal Palace referee decision after 'weak' Spurs performance
The officiating team for Saturday's Premier League clash between Leeds United and Crystal Palace has been confirmed.
The Premier League have confirmed their latest round of referee appointments with Thomas Bramall to take charge of Leeds United vs Crystal Palace.
Leeds return to Elland Road this weekend looking to build on an impressive three-match unbeaten run. Daniel Farke’s side came from 1-0 down to draw 1-1 at Brentford on Sunday - Dominic Calvert-Lewin cancelling out Jordan Henderson’s opener - having taken four points from Chelsea and Liverpool the prior week.
Saturday-evening visitors Palace saw their own three-game unbeaten run ended by Manchester City last weekend, but an impressive campaign has them fighting for Champions League football in fifth. Oliver Glasner’s side arrive at Elland Road just 48 hours after hosting KuPS in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
Ahead of that weekend meeting in West Yorkshire, the Premier League have confirmed the appointment of Bramall to take charge of the game. He will be assisted by Nick Greenhalgh and Bhups Singh-Gill on the night, with Robert Jones as fourth official and Craig Pawson on VAR duties.
Bramall has taken charge of nine Premier League games this season, blowing for 21.22 fouls and brandishing 3.22 yellow cards per game. That places him around average regarding both metrics compared to his top-flight colleagues, while the official has been involved with one Leeds game and two for Palace so far.
Referee’s previous Leeds United job irked Daniel Farke
Leeds fans won’t have particularly fond memories of Bramall’s previous trip to Elland Road, which came during October’s 2-1 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur. The referee irked virtually everyone inside Elland Road after an inconsistent display and failure to stamp out the visitors’ game-management techniques.
YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth gave Bramall a 3/10 in his player ratings, writing: “Let so much go in the first half and then started to blow for everything, most of which seemed to be in Spurs' favour. Didn't deal with time wasting even in stoppage time. A weak performance overall. Didn't cost Leeds the game, they didn't take their chances.”
That failure to take chances was the main frustration for Farke post-match, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin among those guilty of spurning opportunities. But the Leeds boss was also unable to hide his feelings on referee Bramall particularly well, despite not being fully drawn into criticising the man in the middle.
"I have to be careful and do not like to comment,” Farke said when quizzed on Bramall’s performance. “Last time we had this referee it was a big talking point and got a letter. Leave it to other people to comment. I cannot influence this."
Leeds are hoping Saturday’s meeting with Palace passes through without controversy, having endured a number of lengthy and frustrating VAR delays at Brentford last weekend. The technology did overturn a controversial penalty decision for the hosts due to offside while also taking a long time to confirm Calvert-Lewin was onside for his equaliser.