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Howard Webb has been heavily scrutinised for the officiating standards in the Premier League this season
Howard Webb has been slammed for putting Darren England in charge of Arsenal's clash against Chelsea. The referee, who officiated Manchester United's win over Everton on Tuesday night, will be in the middle of the park at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Benjamin Sesko fired the Red Devils to victory at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, banking three crucial points in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification. England was at the centre of attention for much of the tie, turning a blind eye to numerous brawls in the box during corners.
The 40-year-old also dished out five yellow cards, booking Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Harry Maguire, Noussair Mazraoui and Bruno Fernandes. According to Keith Hackett, England should be punished by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) for his 'abysmal' management of the game.
Speaking to Football Insider, the former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee said: "After the very poor performance of referee Darren England in last night’s Everton game, where his management of corner kicks was abysmal, he is rewarded with the Chelsea-Arsenal game.
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"Do the PGMOL really think that his performance at Everton warranted a top appointment? You’ll recall Chris Kavanagh was stood down for his poor performance. We found out that, on Thursday, he was out in Europe.
"He is back officiating the Man United game. Is there any accountability? Are performances measured? Are appointments just made by stabbing a pin into a fixture list?”
Back in August 2025, Webb warned clubs to expect to see more penalties this season, having instructed referees to crack down on grappling inside the penalty area. The new guidance followed consultation with club officials and 'leading players' who had raised concerns.
Ahead of the opening weekend of the new campaign, the PGMOL chief told Sky Sports: "We have to identify those situations that do fall in line with the feedback that we had, that there are just a few too many examples of players clearly pulling people back, impacting their ability to move to the ball or some clear extreme actions are not being penalised
"We have to identify those situations that do fall in line with the feedback that we had, that there are just a few too many examples of players clearly pulling people back, impacting their ability to move to the ball or some clear extreme actions are not being penalised."
This season, with teams having 11 games left to play, bar Arsenal and Wolves, who have 10, so far a total of 72 spot-kicks have been awarded. Last term, 83 penalties were given.
Webb continued: "What we've said to the officials is, if you get one of those extreme situations where one player is clearly dragging another one to the floor in an extreme non footballing action, even if it's off the ball, we expect either the referee to see it or, if it's a clear one, then the VAR will will intervene and recommend the referee looks at it at the screen because it fits the criteria that we've laid out."
The PGMOL chief has previously tried to clamp down on holding inside the box to little success. Webb added: "This is not meant to be a six-week campaign, August and September, then we forget all about it.
"If we went in like a steam train and gave every little bit of sort of contact, then it would tell you it would be a six-week campaign. We would get told very quickly to ease off from what we're doing. We have to take the game with us and we have to be credible."
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