The Football League have now announced the Match Day officials that will take charge of the game between Chelsea and Arsenal this Wednesday.
Chelsea host Arsenal on Wednesday January 10 for the EFL Cup semi final tie at Stamford Bridge and the match carries an 8pm kick off.
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistant Refs: Steve Child and Peter Kirkup
Fourth Official: Jon Moss
VAR & AVAR: Neil Swarbrick and Mick McDonough
Match Day referee Atkinson has officiated 17 games in 2017/18, showing 60 yellow cards and four red cards so far.
He took in 43 games in 2016/17, returning 146 yellow cards and three red cards.
His highest card count that season was eight yellows in the game between Crystal Palace and Hull City. He showed seven yellows in the game between Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion and seven yellows have appeared on four occasions.
He took in 46 matches in 2015-16 and in those games, across all competitions and football divisions, he handed out a whopping total of 169 yellow cards but only one red card.
He was most card happy in the game on February 14 between Arsenal and Leicester where he showed eight yellow cards and one red card. He showed eight yellows in April in the game between Sparta Prague and Villarreal. Prior to that Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen back on September 29 saw seven yellows He’s also hit six yellows in five games as well.
Let`s hope it`s not another repeat and more of the players edge closer to automatic bans.
