Martin Atkinson will referee Newcastle United’s Premier League clash with AFC Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off).
United entertain the Cherries at St. James’ Park in their final fixture before November’s two-week international break, and Bradford-born official Atkinson has been tasked with keeping order on the pitch.
It will be the 48-year-old’s 12th outing of the season, with 11 of those fixtures coming in the Premier League. He kicked off the campaign at Wembley, taking charge of the Community Shield clash between Liverpool and Manchester City, and has already made two visits to Tyneside in 2019/20 – he refereed the Magpies’ opening-day defeat to Arsenal, before returning for the goalless draw with Brighton & Hove Albion in September.
Atkinson – who has been a top flight official since 2005, and was on FIFA’s list of international referees for 12 years until 2018 – has shown a total of 32 yellow cards this term. Last weekend, he issued his first red card of the season, dismissing Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min for the challenge which preceded Everton’s Andre Gomes’ injury.
In 2018/19, Atkinson dished out just two red cards over the course of the entire campaign, while he oversaw just two Newcastle fixtures – the 2-1 defeat to Spurs in August 2018, and the 0-0 draw with Fulham in December 2018.
He will be assisted by Lee Betts and Nick Hopton on Saturday, while Ben Toner will be the fourth official.
And VAR will also be in operation under the control of Peter Bankes, who will be assisted by Darren Cann.