Newcastle United

Newcastle United ref watch: Craig Pawson named as referee for Everton clash

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Image for Newcastle United ref watch: Craig Pawson named as referee for Everton clash

It has been announced that Craig Pawson will be the referee for Newcastle United’s next Premier League game.

Tonight, the Magpies will travel to Goodison Park as they play Frank Lampard’s Everton. With the Toffees struggling towards the bottom of the table, Newcastle will no doubt be hoping to capitalise on that poor form.

However, after it was revealed on Twitter that Pawson will officiate the match, some supporters may be feeling a little concerned.

Will Newcastle beat Everton with Craig Pawson in charge?

Yes

Yes

No

No

TIF has decided to take a look and see why…

The Fraser incident

For many fans, the first thought they may have is: “At least he’s not on VAR.” This would be in reference to an incident earlier this season as Newcastle faced Manchester City. In that match, winger Ryan Fraser was wiped out by goalkeeper Ederson who clearly got none of the ball and a lot of the player.

Referee Martin Atkinson did not give the penalty, and VAR official Pawson failed to rectify the mistake, allowing the incident to pass without further review.

After the match, Fraser was clearly not happy with Pawson, telling NUFC TV (via Daily Mail): “There’s no consistency, there’s always something – and that’s what VAR is for. If there’s no VAR there, then you take it. It’s the game, referees are going to make mistakes.

“But that’s what VAR is there for, to not make mistakes, so there’s no point in having it. It takes so long for things to happen, there’s no point in having it nowadays, I feel. It ruins the game.”

It’s more than likely, that most Magpies fans would have shared those sentiments.

Pawson vs Newcastle

According to Transfermarkt, Pawson has only refereed four other teams more frequently than Newcastle. He has overseen 26 NUFC games in his career.

Sadly, for the Toon, a defeat is the most common outcome of the matches. However, it is fairly even with nine wins, seven draws, and ten defeats.

To make things worse, though, despite having officiated so many games, he has only even given the club one penalty. When you compare this with Leicester City – who he has refereed the most (35 times), giving five penalties – you can see why supporters may not be happy with the weekends’ appointment.

On top of that, he has also given Newcastle the joint-most amount of straight red cards, three, shared with Brighton and Hove Albion.

TIF Verdict

All in all, it’s not looking too good for Eddie Howe and co. Not forgetting the recent drama around Fraser and his penalty shout, the club rarely seems to get the rub of the green when it comes to key decisions if Pawson is in charge.

Still, with Newcastle in good form, and Everton not, they’ll be hoping to overcome this adversity with another win tonight.

In other news: Incredible: Eddie Howe will be excited over Newcastle player’s latest Instagram post – opinion

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