Match Officials: Michael Oliver to referee Aston Villa vs Manchester City | OneFootball

The Premier League have confirmed the team of match officials to oversee Manchester City’s visit to Villa Park on Sunday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola and his players will be aiming to make it 10 matches unbeaten across competitions when they travel to the West Midlands this weekend, in a run that currently stretches back to the end of August.

City appear to have firmly turned a page on their worrying early season form and successive defeats in August, recording significant victories over the likes of Manchester United, Brentford, Napoli, Villarreal, and an away draw at Arsenal.

The latest of those promising results came against the aforementioned Spanish club, with goals from Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva securing all three points in Eastern Spain to make it two wins and a draw in City’s opening three UEFA Champions League contests.

As for Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, they find themselves in 11th position in the Premier League table coming into the weekend, with three victories, three draws, and two defeats to their name, and are unbeaten in their last six matches in all competitions.

Last time out in the Premier League it was an impressive 1-2 away win at Tottenham, before attentions will turn to an away trip to Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League on Thursday night before the weekend’s clash with Manchester City.

Ahead of the meeting between Aston Villa and Manchester City, the Premier League have now announced the list of match officials to oversee proceedings at Villa Park!

Match Referee

The Premier League have confirmed that the highly-experienced Michael Oliver has been appointed into the role of lead on-field match referee for the meeting between Aston Villa and Manchester City this weekend.

So far this season, the 40-year-old match official has overseen 12 matches across all competitions, issuing a total of 37 yellow cards, one second yellow card dismissal, and awarding a penalty kick in the process.

Manchester City are the fourth most familiar team officiated by Oliver in his professional refereeing career, having overseen the Etihad Stadium side on 61 occasions prior to this weekend.

In that run, City have managed a record of 45 victories, six draws, and 10 defeats, receiving a total of 88 yellow cards from Michael Oliver, one second yellow card dismissal, and 11 penalties awarded in their favour.

The last time Manchester City took on a contest with Oliver as the match referee came at Wembley Stadium last season and the 0-2 FA Cup Semi-Final win over Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol.

The last time Oliver took charge of a meeting between Aston Villa and Manchester City came on the final day of the 2021/22 season when Ilkay Gundogan’s last-ditch brace against Steven Gerrard’s side secured them the Premier League title in the most dramatic fashion.

Assistant Referees

Accompanying Michael Oliver on the pitch at Villa Park this weekend will be an assistant referee pairing of Stuart Burt and Ian Hussin, the Premier League have confirmed.

Video Assistant Referees

As for the officials overseeing proceedings from the VAR Hub at Stockley Park, John Brooks has been appointed into the position of Video Assistant Referee for Aston Villa against Manchester City, while Nicholas Hopton will be the Assistant Video Assistant Referee.

Fourth Official

Standing between the two dugouts and ensuring order between Aston Villa’s Unai Emery and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola will be referee Robert Jones, appointed into the position of fourth official by the Premier League.