Manchester United face Crystal Palace this Sunday with an official engulfed in recent controversy set to referee the clash
Chris Kavanagh returns to the Premier League as a referee for Manchester United’s clash vs Crystal Palace(Image: (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images))
Chris Kavanagh will return to Premier League refereeing duties for Manchester United vs Crystal Palace this weekend after an FA Cup disaster. The 40-year-old was in charge of the fourth-round tie between Aston Villa and Newcastle United, with a catalogue of poor decisions made by him and assistant Nick Greenhalgh.
The first of those arrived after just 14 minutes when an offside in the build up to Tammy Abraham’s goal was given. The officials correctly sent Marco Bizot off for the denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity, but failed to dismiss Luca Digne for a shin-high tackle on Jacob Murphy.
The Villa left-back was involved in another controversial moment as Kavanagh opted to give a free-kick for a handball offence that was quite clearly committed inside the penalty area. Kavanagh and Greenhalgh subsequently had the following weekend off.
However, the former did take charge of the UEFA Conference League play-off clash between Kosovo champions FC Drita and NK Celje of Slovenia just a few days prior. The Premier League have now confirmed his return English football for game week 28 with Kavanagh set to take charge of Palace’s visit to Old Trafford.
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He will be joined on the ground by linesman Dan Cook and Ian Hussin with Sam Barrott as the fourth official. Tony Harrington will lead VAR from Stockley Park with Neil Davies as his assistant.
Kavanagh’s Villa Park assistant Greenhalgh, meanwhile, has not been selected for any Premier League games. Instead, he will run the line for Bristol City’s Championship clash against Watford at Ashton Gate on Friday night.
Gameweek 29 follows shortly after with the Premier League announcing the officials for those games as well. Kavanagh has been chosen as the referee for Arsenal’s trip to Brighton, but Greenhalgh looks set to remain elsewhere.
United head into their Sunday afternoon clash against the Eagles following a huge win over Everton and looking to complete their first double of the season.
Goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount helped United to a win over Palace at Selhurst Park back in November. That was also coincidentally Matthijs de Ligt’s last game for the club with the Dutchman having missed the last few months due to a back injury.
Man United pair Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs De Ligt are both out injured
Patrick Dorgu and Mount have since joined him on the sidelines with Lisandro Martinez missing the win over the Toffees because of a calf issue, though Carrick does not expect him to miss much more action.
“He picked up something during the week. It doesn’t seem too bad at all. We’re working through that at the moment. He’s not available tonight. Leny Yoro has done well, he comes in and we move forward.”
The three points taken back to Manchester from Hill Dickinson Stadium came at an important time following Aston Villa and Chelsea dropping points in the race for Champions League football.
Liverpool meanwhile, moved up to United’s points tally prior to their victory, when they beat Nottingham Forest with a last-minute winner.
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