Manchester United host Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturady at 12:30pm, with Anthony Taylor appointed as referee.
Taylor is the most-used referee in the Premier League this season, overseeing 17 games so far. He’s the man often tasked with leading the big games, including the previous meeting between these two sides earlier in the season. It’s rare for a referee to do both matches of a single fixture in the same Premier League season.
This will be the sixth Manchester derby Taylor has officiated across all competitions, with Man Utd edging the previous five with three wins to two. This will also be Taylor’s fourth Man Utd this season, and third for Man City.
Man City go into the game hoping to close the gap on league leaders Arsenal, while Man Utd will be highly a top four spot.
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Anthony Taylor’s Man Utd record
This will be Taylor’s 57th Man Utd game as a referee, only officiating two teams more in his career. But the Red Devils have had mixed results. They’ve won 32 of the 56 games so far, but have lost 17. Man Utd have been awarded 12 penalties but also seen three players sent off. Some Red Devils fans might still feel agrieved that Taylor did not award them a penalty in the 4-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this season, which was voted to be an error by our X followers.
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Matches | 56 |
| Wins | 32 |
| Draws | 7 |
| Defeats | 17 |
| League points | 88 |
| Penalties per game | 0.21 |
| Yellow cards per game | 1.98 |
| Red cards per game | 0.05 |
What happened when Anthony Taylor last refereed Man Utd in this fixture?
As mentioned, Taylor was the man in the middle for the previous Manchester derby this season. It was an uneventful game for Man Utd with no cards shown and eight fouls against them.
Anthony Taylor’s Man City record
Taylor has refereed Man City 49 times so far, with this being a mini milestone. It’ll move the Citizens up to fifth on the list of Taylor’s most-refereed clubs and they’ll be hoping for another win. Man City have won 27 of their 49 games with Taylor in the middle so far, losing 12 and drawing 10. They’ve been given nine penalties but also shown four straight red cards, the most of any side Taylor has refereed.
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Matches | 49 |
| Wins | 27 |
| Draws | 10 |
| Defeats | 12 |
| League points | 78 |
| Penalties per game | 0.18 |
| Yellow cards per game | 1.35 |
| Red cards per game | 0.08 |
What happened when Anthony Taylor last refereed Man City in this fixture?
Like Man Utd, Man City avoided any cards during the Manchester derby earlier this season. They also committed eight fouls as the game was allowed to flow.
What should we expect from Anthony Taylor?
There’s a chance we could see another cardless game, but Taylor has only kept them in his pocket in two of his 17 Premier League matches so far. He’s shown at least two cards in every other game, including four in his last match between Arsenal and Liverpool.