Unai Emery will be seething at Premier League announcement ahead of Aston Villa vs Bournemouth
The Premier League have announced that John Brooks will take charge of Aston Villa’s clash with Bournemouth on Sunday.
Villa were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool on Saturday, and will look to get back to winning ways against the Cherries at Villa Park.
For now, however, focus will be applied to the next game for Unai Emery‘s side, against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday.
John McGinn could make his 300th Villa appearance, with the midfielder hoping to mark it with a positive result.
Villa are huge favourites against Maccabi Tel Aviv, who are yet to win a game in the Europa League this season.
Premier League announce appointment vs Bournemouth
The Premier League have announced that Brooks will be the on-field referee for Villa‘s clash with Bournemouth, while Peter Bankes will be on video assistant referee (VAR) duties.
The Villans actually have a fantastic record when refereed by Brooks, winning 10 of the 13 games the Englishman has officiated.
The last two the official has overseen have ended poorly for Emery’s team, however, with the most recent result coming when Villa lost on penalties to Brentford this season in the Carabao Cup.
The problem that Emery does have with Brooks, though, came when the referee was on VAR duty in a game played at the City Ground last season.
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Unai Emery raged at John Brooks after penalty decision
Villa had looked to be set for their fourth consecutive win across all competitions in December last year, as they entered the final minutes with a 1-0 lead over Nottingham Forest courtesy of Jhon Duran.
But a quickfire double from Nikola Milenkovic and Anthony Elanga was a hammer blow for Emery’s side, who were left to rue a penalty decision in the first half.
Morgan Rogers had beaten Elliott Anderson on the outside, with the Forest man proceeding to grab the midfielder’s arm and blatantly pull him back inside the box.
Referee Sam Barratt took no action, and, despite having the benefit of a closer look, Brooks on VAR inexplicably decided against recommending an on-field review.
Speaking after the game, Emery said: “Now I have watched it, it’s a clear penalty. It’s a massive mistake from the VAR. Today, the VAR is a big mistake because it was clear, he (Rogers) had an advantage.
| Aston Villa | Refereed by John Brooks |
| Wins | 10 |
| Draws | 1 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Yellow cards | 38 |
| Red cards | 0 |
“Please. OK, not the referee. I respect the referee and I respect the VAR, but the VAR is there to help the referees. We watched it after because everybody is VAR. We are watching it on TV, it’s a clear penalty. Where is the VAR?”
Luckily, Brooks will be on the pitch, rather than in the VAR room on Sunday.
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