Referee who handed out two red cards in his previous two Newcastle games is set to take charge of Man City clash

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The Referee to take charge of Newcastle United’s FA Cup quarter final clash against Man City this weekend has now been decided.

Newcastle, like every Premier League team, have had their fair share of poor decisions go against them this season, but they’ve also benefitted from a few as well.

Against City, Newcastle will need every bit of luck they can get and will no be hoping that Simon Hooper, who has been announced as the referee for the game, won’t give any controversial decisions against them on Saturday.

Hooper has dished out two reds in his last two Newcastle games

Simon Hooper has only refereed two Newcastle games in the last month in which the Geordies picked up four points, but in both games the opposition had been given a red card.

The latest fixture he officiated was Newcastle’s 4-1 defeat of Chelsea back in November in which Reece James was shown a second yellow for an obvious hold on Anthony Gordon, and even the defender had no argument against it.

The game prior to that was towards the end of last season against Leeds when Newcastle were still chasing that Champions League spot but were held to a 2-2 draw in which Junior Firpo was shown a second yellow in the 90th minute.

Now, Newcastle will be hoping that this trend continues this weekend and that Man City receive a red card during the FA Cup tie as they are well aware it’s difficult enough playing against 11.

Newcastle face impossible task against City

Newcastle head to the Etihad stadium hoping to return to Wembley and make the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2005 when they were beaten 4-1 by Man United.

To do so, they will also have to beat Man City at their own stadium for the first time since 2014 when they defeated the Citizens in the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 scoreline, so it’s not exactly an easy challenge for them.

Having gone out of both the Champions League and league cup in December this remains Newcastle’s last hope of winning a trophy this season, and there had been a lot of excitement surrounding it until the draw was made.

That combined with their latest result, a poor defeat against an average Chelsea side, has resulted in a lot of pessimism on Tyneside, but the players will be making the trip down to Manchester fully believing they can finally bring some silverware back to the club.