Referee John Brooks is set to take charge of Newcastle United’s clash with Brentford at St. James’ Park this weekend.
The Magpies will be wanting to pick up from where they left off last weekend, after securing a stunning 4-1 victory at ten-man Fulham.
Eddie Howe’s side sit seventh in the Premier League table, just three points off the top four heading into the clash with the Bees, having lost only one game this season.
Ian Hussin and Matthew Wilkes will be running the line with Craig Pawson as fourth official, whilst Paul Tierney and Scott Ledger will be the VAR referee and assistant VAR referee respectively.
What do the stats say?
Brooks has refereed six games so far this season across the Premier League, Championship, and Carabao Cup, issuing 28 yellow cards and one straight red, according to Transfermarkt.
The last time the man in the middle took charge of a game involving the Magpies was in September 2020, when Newcastle, then managed by Steve Bruce, beat Newport County in the Carabao Cup on penalties, following a 1-1 draw in normal time.
This was the only previous time that Brooks had whistled a game involving Newcastle, but he has had a big impact on a previous fixture.
However, he did have a huge say in Eddie Howe’s side’s late 1-0 defeat at Chelsea last season, after Brooks, who was on VAR duty that day, made the decision not to award the Toon a spot-kick after what looked to be an obvious pull down from Trevor Chalobah on Jacob Murphy in the area, whilst Kai Havertz could have seen red for an elbow on Dan Burn.
TIF Verdict…
We believe that Newcastle fans will be worried about Brooks’ appointment and hoping that decisions go in favour of their team this weekend, more so than they did when he was controlling VAR in that defeat at Stamford Bridge.
A small bit of comfort for Newcastle fans can come from the fact that the Toon have been successful in the Leicestershire-born referee’s only previous match as the man controlling the game, and they will be hoping that the same happens again this weekend.
Howe will be hoping that his side can improve on the thrilling 3-3 draw they played out with Brentford last time the London club visited St. James’ Park, with the Magpies aiming to secure all three points this time around.