Premier League makes official decision ahead of Liverpool vs Wolves
Wolves travel to league-leaders Liverpool in this weekend’s Premier League contest
The Premier League have confirmed that Simon Hooper will be the referee for the game between Wolves and Liverpool this weekend. Hooper is an experienced referee who has regularly officiated in the football league since 2008. He made his Premier League debut in 2018 and has overseen more than 100 matches in the top-flight over the course of his career.
This season the Swindon-born referee has taken charge of 15 Premier League matches while producing 69 yellow cards and two red cards - giving him an average of 4.6 bookings per game, according to WhoScored.com. Hooper has taken charge of 23 Wolves games in his career so far and in that time the Old Gold have come out on top on nine occasions while recording three draws and 11 losses. His most recent Wolves game came during a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Chelsea in January.
The assistant referees for the contest at Anfield will be Adrian Holmes and Simon Long while the fourth official has been confirmed as Sam Barrott. John Brooks is on VAR duties alongside assistant Adam Nunn.
Wolves’ upcoming opponents
Liverpool are riding high at the top of the Premier League with 17 victories, six draws and just one defeat. They are the top scorers in the division after finding the net on 58 occasions and have one of the meanest defences in the division after conceding just 22 times in 24 matches.
They are spearheaded by top scorer Mohamed Salah, who has found the net on 22 occasions while also contributing a league-leading 14 assists. Other standout performers this term include captain Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz as well as full-back Trent Alexander Arnold, who is a slight doubt for this weekend’s contest.
The Reds recorded a 2-1 victory at Molineux last time out through goals from Ibrahim Konate and Mohamed Salah, with Rayan Ait-Nouri briefly levelling proceedings at Molineux back in September.
Wolves head to head record with Liverpool
Liverpool have won 15 of their last 16 Premier League meetings with Wolves, with the exception being a 3-0 loss at Molineux in February 2023.
The Reds are also unbeaten in their last nine home matches against the Old Gold with their most recent defeat at Anfield coming in a league match against Mick McCarthy’s side back in December 2010 through Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's.
Liverpool are the hot favourites to win the contest, but will be forced to play without Curtis Jones, who was sent off at the end of a heated Merseyside derby draw with Everton. Meanwhile, manager Arne Slot and assistant Sipke Hulshoff were also handed red cards for confronting the referee and questioning a number of his decisions after the final whistle.