Palace-Arsenal ref to officiate Gunners for 1st time ever
Palace-Arsenal ref to officiate Gunners for 1st time ever The Premier League have confirmed their team of match officials for Sunday’s games, including Arsenal’s trip to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images The Premier League have released their list of match officials for the final round of fixtures this weekend, including Arsenal’s game away to Crystal Palace on Sunday. The match official appointments were decided after Arsenal’s title success was confirmed on Tuesday, which perhaps explains why the league have opted for a less experienced referee to take the game.
Farai Hallam will referee, assisted by Marc Perry and Mat Wilkes. Tom Nield will be the fourth official, with Nick Hopton on VAR, and Craig Taylor as the assistant VAR. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images Hallam has never refereed Arsenal before, and the closest he’s come is in refereeing a couple of Arsenal u21 matches in the 2023/24 season.
More generally, 33-year-old Hallam has only refereed four Premier League games of any description in his career, all of which were in 2026. It seems very unlikely he would have been given the Arsenal game if it had been a title decider, but with the pressure off, it’s a good one to get him some more experience. The Premier League’s refereeing big guns have been sent to the other end of the table, with Michael Oliver refereeing Spurs-Everton, and Anthony Taylor taking West Ham-Leeds United.
It makes perfect sense that the match priorities have been reordered, as there’s now a lot more at stake at the bottom of the table. Arsenal will just be hoping for a straightforward 90 minutes followed by their long-awaited trophy lift.