Familiar face appointed to referee Elland Road clash between Leeds United and Manchester United

Paul Tierney will referee his second Whites and Red Devils clash of the 2021/22 campaign when Ralf Rangnick brings his side to LS11 this weekend.

Tierney, who will be assisted by Lee Betts and Neil Davies, showed the yellow card just three times in Manchester United' s opening day 5-1 win over Marcelo Bielsa's side, booking Liam Cooper and Raphinha for the visitors and Luke Shaw for the hosts.

Leeds' record with Tierney in charge is seven wins, a draw and seven defeats. In those 15 games the Wigan official has sent off Kalvin Phillips and Paul Connolly for the Whites and is yet to produce his red card for an opposition player. The same Brighton game that saw him red card Phillips in 2016 also brought two penalties for the Seagulls, accounting for two thirds of all the spot-kicks he's awarded against Leeds. Since the 2010 penalty he gave to Leeds, in the first Whites game he refereed, he's yet to point to the spot again in their favour.

Manchester United have won 10 of their 17 games refereed by Tierney. He's yet to send off a single player in any of those fixtures and has awarded six penalties in their favour and one against them.

This season the 41-year-old has shown his yellow card 80 times in 22 games and sent off just one player - Liverpool's Andrew Robertson. His decisions in that game sparked complaints from Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, who felt Harry Kane of Spurs should have been red carded for a tackle on Robertson and a penalty should have been awarded for a challenge on Diogo Jota. Klopp had no complaints about Robertson's sending off, however.

“I have no idea what his problem is with me," said the Liverpool manager after the game.

Mike Dean will be fourth official for Sunday's fixture, with Chris Kavanagh on VAR, assisted by Adam Nunn.

Leeds were fined earlier in the season for failing to ensure their players behaved in an orderly fashion after they surrounded Kavanagh when he awarded Chelsea a penalty at Stamford Bridge.

The Manchester-born official, who is neither a fan of Manchester United or Manchester City and so can be involved in their games, has acted as VAR just twice so far this season, in the Premier League clash between Brentford and Arsenal, and the Champions League qualifying tie between BSC Young Boys and Ferencváros.