Arsenal and Crystal Palace face off in the Premier League on Sunday at 2pm, with Thomas Bramall appointed as the referee.
As one of the newer members of the Premier League Select Group of referees, Bramall has never officiated an Arsenal first-team fixture before. But he has taken charge of six top-flight games involving Crystal Palace.
Bramall has refereed four Premier League matches this season after being the man in the middle for 11 fixtures at the highest level in the 2024-25 campaign.
Arsenal headed into the weekend as the Premier League leaders, three points ahead of Manchester City with a superior goal difference by just one goal.
Crystal Palace have suffered only one league defeat this season. But it came in their most recent away trip, a 2-1 defeat at Everton due to a late Jack Grealish goal. Even so, the Eagles went into this round of fixtures in eighth place after winning three and drawing four of their eight games.
Thomas Bramall’s Arsenal record
Bramall has never officiated at a match involving the Arsenal senior team. But he has officiated games featuring their academy sides in Premier League 2 and in one EFL Trophy fixture in December 2018, when Arsenal Under-23s lost 2-1 to Portsmouth.
While Bramall has never officiated at a senior Arsenal match, Gunners fans are more familiar with the VAR official for the game, Chris Kavanagh.
Kavanagh has been involved in several controversial decisions featuring the north London side including sending off Declan Rice for time-wasting in August 2024, which was later judged incorrect by refereeing chief Howard Webb.
Unlike Bramall, Kavanagh has refereed an Arsenal game this season as he was the man in the middle for their only league defeat this term, a 1-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield.
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Matches | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Defeats | 0 |
| League points | 0 |
| Penalties per game | 0 |
| Yellow cards per game | 0 |
| Red cards per game | 0 |
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Thomas Bramall’s Crystal Palace record
Bramall has been the man in the middle for six Crystal Palace Premier League games. And the Eagles have not lost any of them, with three wins and three draws.
Palace have earned less than half of the yellow cards he has shown during those fixtures as well as one of the two red cards he has issued.
He sent off Naouirou Ahamada for time-wasting and a foul within four minutes of each other towards the end of a 3-1 away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers in May 2024.
While the Eagles are unbeaten in Bramall’s matches, manager Oliver Glasner may not remember him fondly as he was shown a yellow card by the official in that match at Molineux.
The most recent Palace match Bramall officiated was their home game against Sunderland this season, which finished goalless with two yellow cards, one shown to Daniel Munoz.
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Matches | 6 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Draws | 3 |
| Defeats | 0 |
| League points | 12 |
| Penalties per game | 0.17 |
| Yellow cards per game | 1.5 |
| Red cards per game | 0.17 |