West Ham United v Ipswich Town
Premier League, London Stadium, Saturday 5 October 2024, 3pm BST
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn
Fourth Official: Andrew Kitchen
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger
Anthony Taylor has been confirmed as the man in the middle for Saturday’s Premier League match at home to Ipswich Town.
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 officiated 376 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 36th fixture involving West Ham United against Liverpool in April, when goals from Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio earned the Hammers a point against the Reds.
The Ipswich clash is the sixth Premier League match in which Taylor has held the whistle in the 2024/25 season, with his most recent appointment coming in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory away at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, while he also refereed a UEFA Europa League qualifier between SK Rapid Vienna and SC Braga in August.
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 last season’s aforementioned Liverpool clash at London Stadium.
Both men have run the line together on six occasions in the Premier League this campaign, with Beswick and Nunn surpassing the 300 and 250 match milestones last season in the competition respectively.
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 West Bromwich Albion’s 1-0 win over Plymouth on 21 September.
Video Assistant Referee duties are set to be overseen by Darren England. The 38-year-old refereed West Ham’s 2-2 draw with Burnley in March, and has taken charge of two Premier League matches so far this season.
