West Ham United v Aston Villa
Premier League, London Stadium, Saturday 17 August 2024, 5.30pm BST
Referee: Tony Harrington
Assistant Referees: Scott Ledger & Mat Wilkes
Fourth Official: Andrew Kitchen
VAR: John Brooks
Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton
Tony Harrington has been confirmed as the referee for West Ham United's 2024/25 Premier League opener at home to Aston Villa this weekend.
The 40-year-old will be the man in the middle for the Hammers’ clash at London Stadium on Saturday 17 August.
One of the newest top-flight referees, who was promoted to Select Group One ahead of the 2021/22 season, Harrington takes the whistle for just his second West Ham match. The first was our 2-1 Premier League win at Wolverhampton Wanderers in April this year.
Harrington refereed his first Premier League match in December 2021, and has gone on to take charge of 19 top-flight fixtures in total.
The Hartlepool-based official possesses plenty of EFL Championship experience, having refereed 189 matches in the second-tier from the 2013/14 campaign onwards, and was in charge of two Wembley finals in the space of a week in May 2021.
First he officiated the FA Trophy final between Hereford and Hornchurch, then he returned for Blackpool's EFL League Two Play-Off final victory over Lincoln City.
Scott Ledger and Mat Wilkes will serve as the assistant referees at London Stadium.
The duo are experienced Premier League officials. Ledger officiated in two of the Hammers' matches last season, running the line in the 2-1 win away at Luton Town in September and the 5-0 defeat at Fulham in December.
Wilkes, meanwhile, who has appeared as an assistant in the competition over 150 times, will be handed assistant duties for the 21st time for West Ham games in all competitions.
Saturday's fourth official is Andrew Kitchen. The Durham-born official has never refereed a Premier League match, but spent two years on the National League prior to his promotion to the Select Group 2 (SG2) list of officials, who predominately take charge of Championship matches. He was the man in the middle of Oxford United’s 2-0 win over Norwich City last weekend in the EFL Championship.
Finally, Video Assistant Referee responsibilities will be overseen by John Brooks, who took charge of 22 Premier League matches as the main match official last season.
