West Ham United v Arsenal
Premier League, London Stadium, Saturday 30 November 2024, 5.30pm GMT
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn
Fourth Official: Bobby Madley
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes
Anthony Taylor has been confirmed as the man in the middle for Saturday’s Premier League match at home to Arsenal.
A top-flight referee since 2010, Taylor is one of England’s most experienced officials and has previously taken charge of two FA Cup finals, an EFL Cup final, the FA Community Shield, the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup final, the 2023 UEFA Europa League final and, at international level, the 2021 UEFA Nations League final between France and Spain. In 2020, Taylor became the first referee since 1901 to referee two FA Cup finals when he was in charge of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea.
Born in Wythenshawe, Manchester, he worked his way up to the Premier League after starting out in the Northern Premier League - English football’s seventh tier - and since February 2010, when he took charge of a game between Portsmouth and Fulham, Taylor has tallied 382 Premier League matches and counting.
The 45-year-old also famously reacted quickly when Denmark's Christian Eriksen collapsed during his country's UEFA Euro 2020 group-stage tie with Finland, and is credited with helping save the Manchester United midfielder's life due to his swift actions in calling for medical attention.
A veteran of nearly 750 games in all competitions, Taylor refereed his 37th fixture involving West Ham United against Ipswich in October, when goals from Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paquetá earned the Hammers their first home three-point haul of the season.
The Arsenal clash is the 12th Premier League match in which Taylor has held the whistle in the 2024/25 season, with his most recent appointment coming in Ipswich’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United last weekend.
Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn will serve as the assistant referees at London Stadium.
The duo regularly officiate matches alongside Taylor, and duly served with him at this season’s aforementioned Ipswich clash in east London.
Both men have run the line together on 12 occasions in the Premier League this campaign, with Beswick and Nunn surpassing the 300 and 250-match milestones last season in the competition respectively.
Bobby Madley will work as the fourth official on Saturday.
The 39-year-old has served in the same role in three Premier League matches so far this season, while also taking charge of ten EFL Championship games.
Video Assistant Referee duties are set to be overseen by Michael Salisbury. Part of the Select Group of Referees since the 2022/23 season, Salisbury refereed three Irons games during the 2023/24 campaign, and most recently worked as a fourth official in our 2-0 home defeat to Fulham in April.
Leicester City v West Ham United
Premier League, King Power Stadium, Tuesday 3 December 2024, 8.15pm GMT
Referee: Josh Smith
Assistant Referees: Tim Wood and Marc Perry
Fourth Official: Darren Bond
VAR: Neil Davies
Assistant VAR: Jarred Gillett
West Ham will return to Premier League action three days after the Arsenal clash, away to Leicester City, with Josh Smith having been confirmed as the referee for that game.
Born in Peterborough, Smith, who is one of the younger referees currently working in the Premier League and EFL, made his top-flight debut at the end of the 2022/23 season when he took charge of a game between Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Smith started refereeing in the Peterborough and District Junior Alliance League aged 14 in 2006, following in the footsteps of both his dad and grandfather, who had refereed football and rugby league respectively.
In 2015, Smith was promoted to the EFL Assistant Referee list, where he completed three years before opting to pursue a career as a referee. Successive promotions from the National League to the EFL, then Select Group 2 List of Referees ahead of the 2020/21 season, have seen him take charge of seven Premier League matches and over 100 EFL fixtures.
Tuesday’s match will be the official’s first experience of West Ham United and will be Smith's 17th fixture of the campaign.
He will be assisted at King Power Stadium by Tim Wood and Marc Perry.
The pair run the line in the Premier League regularly, and have both served as assistants for many of West Ham's fixtures over the years.
Perry has been a Premier League assistant referee since the 2013/14 campaign, and will work his 300th top-flight match as an assistant in Leicester.
Wood has served in the English top division since the 2019/20 season and was the Assistant VAR in our 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Monday.
Darren Bond will serve as the fourth official next Tuesday evening, and will be involved in a West Ham United match for the first time this season. An experienced whistler across the EFL, Bond has refereed five games in the Premier League in 2024/25.
Finally, Neil Davies will undertake VAR duties in the East Midlands. Davies worked as an assistant at 24 Premier League games last season, and this Leicester trip will be the second time this season he has helped officiate at an Irons clash, having ran the line in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in August.
