Wolves set for reunion with referee for Tottenham clash whose errors inspired infamous Gary O'Neil rant

Premier League bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers are back in Premier League action on Saturday evening as Vitor Pereira’s men travel to north London to face Tottenham Hotspur.

It will be a tough task for Wolves to get their season back on track against a side who sit joint-second in the league table after three wins from five matches. The away side must aim to get some points on the board, though, as they are yet to pick up a single point following defeat at home against newly-promoted Leeds United last weekend.

Carabao Cup victory over Everton in midweek proved that Wolves still have what it takes to beat an established Premier League side. That form must now be taken over to the league, where the Old Gold are already four points away from safety and will be wary of finding themselves cast adrift at this early stage.

The match officials for Saturday’s fixtures have been announced, with a reminder of a controversial evening under former head coach Gary O’Neil for Wanderers fans and an untimely reunion.

Referee named for Tottenham vs Wolves clash

The match officials for Wolves trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium have been revealed by the Premier League, with Michael Salisbury announced as the referee for the encounter.

Marc Perry and Steve Meredith will be the assistant referees, while David Webb is the fourth official. Stuart Attwell is the VAR for the encounter and Akil Howson is the assistant VAR.

This selection will raise alarm bells for some Wolves fans, who may remember a fateful night at Craven Cottage in November 2023 when a host of controversial refereeing decisions by Salisbury and VAR went against Wolves on the way to a 3-2 defeat to Fulham. O’Neil gave an infamous rant to the media at the full-time whistle, incensed at the decisions which went against his side.

Three penalties were given that night, two against Wolves, with O’Neil particularly outraged that Nelson Semedo was penalised for a challenge on Tom Cairney. The former Wolves boss also believed that Carlos Vinicius of Fulham should have been sent off for a headbutt on Max Kilman, while he claimed Tim Ream could have been dismissed for a second bookable offence when conceding the penalty which was converted by Hwang Hee-chan.

O’Neil often spoke out against refereeing decisions going against his side during his time at Molineux and Wolves fans will hope that a similar pattern does not repeat when Pereira’s struggling outfit travel to Spurs.

Wolves may need to ‘start making some noise’ - O’Neil’s outrage

"Maybe tonight has finally turned me against VAR," O'Neil said at the time as he blasted the officials. "The impact that you are having on my reputation, and the club and people's livelihoods is massive. We should be able to talk about the game and not decisions, but unfortunately we can't.

"I think it is a really complex [issue]. I have always been for VAR but I think it is causing problems at the moment. I think VAR has cost us there.”

O’Neil continued that he had been to see referee Salisbury after the game. "We have discussed a lot of decisions,” added O’Neil.

"Nelson [Semedo] plays the ball and doesn't touch Cairney. The referee says he felt that was wrong and he should have been sent to the monitor. That doesn't help me. So that one has been pretty much admitted that it was a mistake. The Wilson one we disagree. I feel it was soft. For all four decisions to go against us is tough to take and we didn't deserve that.

"[It's] bad luck that it keeps going against us. There are bad refereeing decisions in there. I have had a good grown-up conversation with him. I am not angry with people. I have two options - we keep behaving as we should and respect the decisions and tell the players to do the same, or we start saying this isn't working for us and making some noise. I'd rather be a decent human being and be honest, but it can't keep going against us."