Man Utd and Man City fans may not be happy with Premier League announcement for Manchester derby
Manchester United welcome City for the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
The two Manchester clubs are set to lock horns again this weekend as Man City will make the short trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. Both teams have very different objectives for the remainder of the season.
City are hoping to finish in a Champions League spot. They are currently fourth after beating Leicester City 2-0 in their last game earlier in the week. Man United are instead hoping to progress under Ruben Amorim after they lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.
However, both Man United and City fans might not be pleased with a recent Premier League announcement ahead of the game on Sunday afternoon at Old Trafford.
Premier League make controversial VAR appointment
The Premier League has appointed the officials for the game on Sunday, and one name as the VAR has struck as controversial following events in Liverpool during the week.
Paul Tierney has been named as the VAR for the City vs United game at Old Trafford just days after he made the controversial decision not to rule that Everton centre-back James Tarkowski should be sent off after a horrific challenge that he put on Alexis MacAllister during the Merseyside derby.
Tarkowski was initially handed a yellow card by the referee, but Tierney then didn’t say it was a ‘clear and obvious error’ even though after the game the PGMOL confirmed that he made a mistake.
They said in a statement: “PGMOL notes that Tarkowski initially played the ball but deems that his follow-through on Mac Allister met the threshold for serious foul play, and therefore was worthy of a red card.”
Despite that, Tierney has been kept on duty this weekend and appointed as the VAR for the Manchester derby. It may leave some supporters unhappy as they question whether Tierney should be tasked to watch over another high-profile game after a major error in midweek.
Tierney has ‘even record’ between City and United
Despite the concerns surrounding Paul Tierney’s appointment as VAR, he has a very even record when refereeing games between the two Manchester sides.
He most recently took charge of the Manchester derby in October 2023, when City beat United 3-0 at Old Trafford. He showed just one yellow card to Man City during the game, and has a very even record between the two teams.
In his refereeing career, Tierney has shown Man City and Man United 43 yellow cards and no red cards, giving seven penalties to both teams in his career. City do have a much better winning record under Tierney, winning 27 of 31 games that Tierney has refereed.
United have won 14 of 25 games under him, with their last match being a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in 2024. Tierney has been the VAR in five Man United games this season, resulting in four yellow cards. He has been the VAR in four City games, resulting in five yellow cards and no penalties.