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John Brooks has been named as the referee for Liverpool's Premier League showdown with Tottenham this Saturday.
The Reds have less than fond memories of Brooks, who gave Virgil van Dijk his marching orders during their clash with Newcastle United at St James' Park in August 2023. Van Dijk was shown red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity to his now teammate, Alexander Isak.
The Liverpool captain was hit with an automatic one-match ban, which was followed by an additional suspension and a hefty £100,000 fine (more than $130,000) from the Football Association after he refused to leave the pitch and argued with Brooks and fourth official Craig Pawson. Despite being a man down for over an hour, the Reds managed to secure a 2-1 victory, thanks to a brace from substitute Darwin Nunez.
In February, Brooks was relieved of his VAR duties for Liverpool's derby against Everton and Arsenal's match against Manchester City, following his contentious decision to disallow Brighton's goal in their 1‐1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Since then, Brooks has officiated four Liverpool matches, the most recent being their 2-1 Premier League triumph over Chelsea in October.
For the upcoming clash with Tottenham, Anthony Taylor will serve as the fourth official, while Stuart Attwell will be in charge of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) duties.
Just last month, Attwell faced criticism for a significant decision in Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Aston Villa.
Amadou Onana escaped a sending off after he seemed to grab Alexis Mac Allister by the throat as Villa were setting up for a corner.
"The fact they were pushing and shoving each other and all right, he's raised his arm, probably a bit higher than he wanted, but he's pushing," commented former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher on Sky Sports' Ref Watch programme.
"Stuart's [Attwell] got to decide, is it violent? Is it an act of brutality?
"He said: 'No,' he's obviously relayed to the VAR what he's seen, VAR has checked it back. The referee said, yellow card only."
In another instance, during the League Cup semi-final first leg at Tottenham in January 2022, Attwell drew the ire of the Liverpool camp by not sending off Lucas Bergvall, who went on to score the winning goal moments later.
The 18-year-old was shown a yellow card midway through the second half for a late tackle on Luis Diaz. He then narrowly avoided a second booking just before scoring, following a reckless challenge on Kostas Tsimikas.
Looking ahead to Saturday, it's another must-win match for Liverpool in north London, with Slot's team aiming to secure consecutive victories after recent draws against Sunderland and Leeds United.
On the other hand, Spurs suffered a 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest last Sunday and have now won and lost six games each in the Premier League.
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