- Manchester City face Southampton on Saturday
- Winner will qualify for FA Cup final
- Craig Pawson in charge of proceedings
Manchester City will be hoping for a match without controversy against Southampton, but the selected matchday official has an interesting recent history with the club.
There are only a few days to go until Manchester City return to Wembley for the semi-final of the FA Cup. The Citizens booked their place in the penultimate tie after hammering Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium earlier this month.
Pep Guardiola may well be licking his lips at the prospect of facing Southampton, but despite being a Championship team, they did knock out Arsenal.
Therefore, this could end up being a challenging fixture for City. Additionally, the club will not be best pleased after seeing which referee will be calling the shots.
Craig Pawson will referee Southampton vs Man City
Man City’s cup clash will be refereed by Craig Pawson, who will be assisted by Lee Betts and Matthew Wilkes. Tony Berrington is the VAR, with Edward Smart as his deputy.
Pawson’s appointment may be considered a controversial one, since he disallowed Haaland’s goal in stoppage time when City defeated Liverpool in February.
The Norwegian had the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out as he fouled Dominik Szoboszlai in order to score.
However, since the Liverpool attacker had already denied a goal-scoring opportunity with his initial offence, he was shown a red card.
Pawson’s record refereeing Man City matches
During Man City’s win over Liverpool, Pawson awarded Man City a penalty kick. However, he also gave out four yellow cards to the Sky Blues, while the hosts only received two bookings.
Pawson also oversaw City’s 5-4 victory against Fulham last December, a game where Rayan Cherki was the only player cautioned.
Interestingly, the Citizens have won their past six matches when Pawson has been the referee, including an FA Cup fifth round tie against Plymouth Argyle last season.
City are good enough to cope with any controversial decisions
There was plenty of controversy involving Erling Haaland and Gabriel on Sunday, with the Arsenal defender extremely lucky not to be sent off.
The Brazilian lashed out at Haaland with a headbutt and had he hit the deck, the referee would surely have removed Gabriel from the game.
Despite this, City stuck to their task and sealed an important victory. So it will be no surprise if regardless of what happens, they do it again.
