Newcastle United supporters should be left rather concerned following news that has emerged from the Premier League recently.
The international break is slowly drawing to a conclusion, and as a result, teams can start to pay attention once more to what is going on in the league.
Despite losing their last two games before the break, Newcastle have been on an incredible run of form recently in their attempts to stay in the league and will be hoping to bounce back to their previous form so that they can secure safety as soon as possible as they take on Tottenham Hotspur in north London.
However, following an announcement from the Premier League about who is set to take charge of the game, they might not be feeling too confident over getting a positive result.
Who is set to take charge?
It was announced by the Premier League that Martin Atkinson will be the man in the middle for the affair, and he will be flanked by Lee Betts and Simon Long whilst Paul Tierney will be in charge of VAR. This is only the third time that he’s taken charge of the Toon this season, the last one being their 2-1 win against Brighton & Hove Albion at the start of March, but it’s his record beyond that which should give them cause for concern.
Why should they be concerned?
When it comes to refereeing Newcastle, Atkinson has been something of a bogey-referee for them in recent seasons, as stretching back to the start of the 2019/20 season, he has taken charge of them nine times, won just one game and haven’t received a single penalty.
Speaking on penalties, one moment in particular should be setting alarm bells going on Tyneside, as it was Atkinson who failed to award Eddie Howe’s side a spot-kick in their game against Manchester City in December, despite it looking to all the world that it should have been.
TIF Verdict…
Newcastle’s players and fans will surely be hoping that he puts in a better performance with the whistle during the game on Sunday than he has previously.
Because whilst safety in the Premier League looks increasingly secure, with data analytics site FiveThirtyEight giving them just a 4% chance of relegation, the sooner that it can be mathematically secured, the better, just so that they can start looking ahead to next season.
So whilst a win isn’t necessarily vital, it is still very important that they pick it up, and hopefully Atkinson won’t play a part in the outcome.
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