Many West Ham fans have been reacting on social media lately after Hammers Chat shared who the referee will be for our trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The man who will hold the whistle in North London will be the 40-year-old Anthony Taylor, who last oversaw one of our games when we beat Crystal Palace 3-2 at the London Stadium in December.
Taylor also officiated our trip to Anfield at the start of the season, but we came out 4-0 losers that day, in a match which – like our game with the Eagles – saw three yellow cards issued.
The Manchester-born referee has a habit of brandishing his cards this season, with only Everton’s game against Bournemouth and Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea not seeing both sides issued at least a yellow in his last 12 in the middle.
You have to go back to when he refereed Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Southampton in December to find the last Premier League game that Taylor did not issue any bookings, at all, too – Taylor has issued a combined six or more yellow cards on three occasions this league season.
Providing there are no late changes to who the officials will be in North London, our clash with Spurs will be Taylor’s third Hammers game of the campaign and fourth Tottenham encounter – the referee, who first ruled a top-flight game in 2010, has overseen Arsenal the most.
News that he will be holding the whistle on Saturday, however, has not gone done well with these fans…
Now there are visions of Taylor waving away protests from the away players as he gives Toxic a disputed penalty. He’s got history!
— Biro’s Hammer (@Apisadmirer) April 23, 2019
Reffing Spurs v West Ham, but will still find a way to award Liverpool a penalty
— OldCastleSwift (@OldCastleSwift) April 24, 2019
Game over then, he hates us, expect a red card
— Darren Duchovny (@Hyper647580) April 24, 2019
Oh dear – another clueless one ????
— tonygibson (@tonygibson) April 23, 2019
Ruined my day finding that out
— John Roberts (@JohnRob26145882) April 24, 2019
Pity it’s not Tommy Taylor rather than Tony Taylor.
— @tridge (@MJAttridge) April 24, 2019
Great ????
— Mrs Scho (@SchobiesWife) April 24, 2019