Referee Simon Hooper has been appointed to take charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ trip to Chelsea this weekend.
It has been a week of turmoil for Wolves, who sacked head coach Bruno Lage after the side’s 2-0 defeat at West Ham United last weekend, and remain manager-less for this weekend’s trip to Stamford Bridge.
The West Midlands side currently sit third from bottom in the Premier League, having won one of their first eight fixtures, but could theoretically jump to 12th this weekend if results go in their favour.
Adrian Holmes and Mark Scholes will run the line with Tom Bramall acting as fourth official, whilst David Coote and Harry Lennard will act as VAR and assistant VAR respectively.
What do the stats say?
Hooper has officiated five Premier League games so far this campaign, issuing 15 yellow cards and no dismissals according to Transfermarkt, suggesting he has been relatively lenient so far.
The old gold and black suffered a 1-0 Premier League defeat at Tottenham Hotspur earlier this season, in which was the last occasion the 40-year-old took charge of a match involving the Black Country side.
It didn’t go too well last time Hooper officiated a Wolves game at Molineux, with the referee pointing to the spot on no less than two occasions in a 3-0 home defeat by Brighton and Hove Albion last season.
In fact, according to Transfermarkt, the Midlands side haven’t won in their last five matches officiated by the Wiltshire-born referee, with their last victory dating back to a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth in November 2019.
TIF Verdict…
We believe that Wolves fans will be disappointed by Hooper’s appointment with decisions and results going against the Black Country club in games that he has been in charge of, and supporters heading down to London will be hoping that their luck changes this weekend.
The Wanderers already have a thin squad as it is, with Pedro Neto, Raúl Jiménez, Saša Kalajdžic, Ruben Neves, and Nathan Collins all being unavailable for the trip to Stamford Bridge as it is.
However, Wolves will be hoping for a repeat of last season’s thrilling 2-2 draw at Chelsea, in which Lage’s side trailed by two goals with ten minutes of normal time remaining, before Francisco Trincão pulled a goal back before Conor Coady’s injury time equaliser.