Premier League announce referee for Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest and it doesn't look good
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Nottingham Forest return to Premier League action with a difficult trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal, and the referee for the encounter has now been announced.
Arsenal have had a bit of a blip this season, having already lost ground on Liverpool and Manchester City, who occupy the top two places.
However, Mikel Arteta has had the international break to work on things with most of his players, and they’ll be desperate to get back to winning ways after three without one.
Nottingham Forest will have a lot to say about that though, with aspirations of challenging for Europe themselves and it’s currently tied in terms of points so far this season.
A crunch clash is set for the Emirates this weekend, and the referee has been announced by the Premier League, which isn’t good news for Nottingham Forest.
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Premier League announce Simon Hooper as the referee for Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest
Simon Hooper has gone relatively under the radar this season in terms of VAR and refereeing errors, which is a good sign heading into this one.
He’s overseen five Premier League games in the current campaign, which included Forest’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at the City Ground.
The Premier League have announced he’s set to take charge of the clash at the Emirates.
His assistants will be Adrian Holmes and Simon Long. The fourth official is Dean Whitestone, whilst Darren England is on VAR and his assistant is Marc Perry.
Nottingham Forest’s record involving Simon Hooper
Simon Hooper has refereed 24 Nottingham Forest games in his career. During this time, the Reds have won eight, drawn five and lost 11.
Arsenal on the other hand have won five, drawn one and lost one.
Two of Arsenal’s wins under Hooper have come against Nottingham Forest, which included a 2-1 win last season and a 5-0 loss in 2022, so the early signs aren’t great.
One positive is the lack of yellow cards in meetings involving Hooper prior, as just one was handed out in the two previous meetings.
Morgan Gibbs-White will certainly be happy after his incident with Rob Jones.
