Appointments

Stoke V West Ham - Lee Mason
Aston Villa V Bolton - Mike Dean
Blackburn V Fulham - Anthony Taylor
Everton V Newcastle - Andre Marriner
Tottenham V Wolves - Mike Jones
West Brom V Birmingham - Chris Foy
Sunderland V Arsenal - Phil Dowd
Man Utd V Liverpool - Howard Webb
Wigan V Man City - Lee Probert
Chelsea V Blackpool - Peter Walton.

I suppose nobody should be suprised by the major appointment here. While nobody could possibly doubt the world cup referee's credentials for this game it still seems a rather hasty choice. This is only Howard's second game of the Premier league season, having refereed West Brom and Tottenham on saturday. Other senior referees; Mike Dean, Chris Foy (Martin Atkinson excluded due to his appointment to Man Utd last week) are both well into the season having both had at least 4 competitive fixtures. This is double the amount of games and these extra matches could be invaluable, should the game be as fast paced as many would like.

Other notable appointments see Chris Foy take a half hearted midlands derby and Lee Probert gets his second TV billing of the week, perhaps he is starting to live up to his billing as a FIFA official in progress.
Also, notable in his absence is Stuart Attwell demoted to 4th official at Everton V Newcastle - this i believe is wrong and shows no faith in his ability coming from the PGMOL, he needed at least a championship game to boost his own confidence if no one elses.

N.B - first league one appointment for my coach, Mr B Malone (salisbury), hopefully he will handle the step up in fitness ha !