Confirmed Match Officials: Manchester City vs Chelsea (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City will return to Premier League action this weekend off the back of a hugely disappointing result in European competition on Wednesday night.

Pep Guardiola and his players headed into Europe in the week in buoyant mood after demolishing Ipswich Town at Portman Road via a 0-6 scoreline, giving supporters plenty of hope over a second-half of the season turnaround.

And with 35 minutes remaining at the Parc des Princes, those hopes were accurate after Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland put Manchester City into a 0-2 lead, only to find Paris Saint-Germain level moments later.

The hosts would not ease off either, and follow-up goals from Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos added to Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola’s strikes to put Luis Enrique’s squad into control and ultimately win the game 4-2 in the league phase of the Champions League.

The visit of Chelsea represents a clear opportunity for Manchester City to break into the Premier League’s top-four, and not for a limited time either, as Enzo Maresca’s side currently occupy fourth spot by a two-point margin over the reigning top-flight champions.

It could be the perfect boost for Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players too as they turn their attentions immediately to UEFA Champions League duties once more, as Club Brugge visit the Etihad Stadium next week on matchday eight of the league phase.

Before then however, and ahead of the meeting between Manchester City and Chelsea this weekend, the Premier League have now announced the list of match officials to oversee proceedings at the Etihad Stadium!

Match Referee

The Premier League have confirmed that the match referee for this weekend’s meeting between Manchester City and Chelsea will be John Brooks – in what will be his 11th English top-flight outing of the season so far.

Unfortunately for the hosts this weekend, the Leicestershire official has only overseen proceedings involving City on one previous Premier League occasion this season and that came in a 0-4 home defeat to Tottenham.

Across all of their matches involving John Brooks as the lead referee, Manchester City have recorded six wins in nine matches, with the other three resulting in defeats to Brentford, Aston Villa, and the recent drubbing courtesy of Spurs.

Brooks is yet to issue a single red card this season, but has handed out a total of 53 yellow cards across his 10 Premier League matches in the campaign, awarding two penalties in the process.

Assistant Referees

Accompanying John Brooks on the field at the Etihad Stadium this weekend will be an appointed assistant referee pairing of Simon Bennett and Dan Robathan, the Premier League have confirmed.

Video Assistant Referees

As for the pairing of officials overseeing Manchester City against Chelsea from Stockley Park’s VAR Hub, the Premier League have confirmed that Stuart Attwell will take on the role of Video Assistant Referee, with Neil Davies as the Assistant Video Assistant Referee.

Fourth Official

Standing between the two dugouts and ensuring that all is in check between Pep Guardiola and Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City and Chelsea benches is the appointed fourth official, Lewis Smith.