Anthony Taylor in charge for Everton - West Ham again

The Premier League in its infinite wisdom has assigned referee Anthony Taylor to yet another Everton and West Ham clash. Evidently, they have clearly forgotten the fiascos that this very referee has been responsible for between these two teams.

In December 2012, he disallowed a perfectly good goal by Leon Osman, and then inexplicably sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson among a bunch of other very odd decisions. And then again in March earlier this year, when he sent off Kevin Mirallas as the Hammers came from behind to win. Sandwiched in between was a surprisingly uneventful 1-1 draw in January 2015 in the FA Cup, with a last-minute equalizer from Romelu Lukaku.

Taylor was also the controversial choice for the FA Cup semi final this previous season as the Blues played Manchester United. This was despite a protest from Everton fans that the referee, who lives just a matter of miles from Old Trafford, was previously removed from officiating a United game against Aston Villa for that very reason after Villa complained.

He was also in charge for the dull 0-0 Merseyside Derby in February 2015 which ended with four Toffees shown yellow cards. In fact, Everton have now lost five straight games that Taylor has officiated.

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Match Officials details -

Referee: Anthony Taylor

Assistants: G Beswick, S Bennett

Fourth official: J Moss

Anthony Taylor Everton record -

World Football

Referee data courtesy of World Football