Match Officials: Chris Kavanagh to referee Manchester City vs Liverpool | OneFootball

The Premier League have confirmed that Chris Kavanagh has been appointed into the role of match referee for Manchester City’s clash with Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides come into this weekend’s mammoth clash at the Etihad Stadium in strong form and off the back of encouraging European showings to further boost their respective hopes of a top-eight finish in the Champions League’s league phase.

For Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, they have now followed up their 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa with victories against Swansea City, Bournemouth, and Borussia Dortmund in the Carabao Cup fourth round, Premier League, and Champions League respectively.

The most recent of those victories came against the latter as City put four goals beyond the iconic German club courtesy of a Phil Foden brace, an inevitable Erling Haaland effort, and a late strike from Rayan Cherki.

As for Arne Slot’s somewhat faltering Liverpool outfit, they have now put together a stronger run of results having lost successive matches across competitions, with their latest scalp being a 1-0 home win over Real Madrid.

This weekend brings together the Premier League’s top-four as first-place Arsenal take on fourth-place Sunderland away from home, and second-place Manchester City host third-place Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.

As such, there is a huge opportunity for teams to extend leads in their respective positions, or for the table’s leading quartet to see significant change between the second, third, and fourth place teams with Arsenal holding a firm lead at the top coming into the latest matchweek.

Ahead of the meeting between Manchester City and Liverpool, the Premier League have now announced the list of match officials to oversee proceedings at the Etihad Stadium!

Match Referee

The Premier League have this week confirmed that match referee duties have been appointed to Chris Kavanagh for the high-profile clash between Manchester City and Liverpool this weekend.

The 40-year-old Manchester-born official will be taking charge of his 16th match across competitions on Sunday, having overseen contests in the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League qualifying, Community Shield, and the Carabao Cup.

Across his 15 matches across competitions so far this season, Kavanagh has issued a total of 58 yellow cards, one second yellow card dismissal, one straight red card dismissal, and awarded four penalties in the process.

Manchester City have a somewhat mixed record in the 14 matches they have met Kavanagh as match referee, winning eight of those clashes, drawing three contests, and losing three matches across competitions.

This weekend will mark Chris Kavanagh’s first match involving Manchester City of the 2025/26 season, although Pep Guardiola’s side have lost their previous two matches when the Ashton-Under-Lyne-born official has overseen proceedings.

Both of those contests came away from home in their difficult 2024/25 season, as City fell to a 2-0 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool and 1-0 away from home at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest.

Assistant Referees

Accompanying Chris Kavanagh on the Etihad Stadium pitch this weekend will be an assistant referee pairing of Dan Cook and Stuart Burt, the Premier League have confirmed this week.

Video Assistant Referees

Overseeing matters from the VAR Hub at Stockley Park between Manchester City and Liverpool will be the Premier League’s appointed Video Assistant Referee Michael Oliver, alongside the Assistant Video Assistant Referee Timothy Wood.

Fourth Official

Standing between the two dugouts this weekend and overseeing matters involving the Manchester City and Liverpool benches fronted by Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot respectively will be the appointed fourth official Samuel Barrott.