Everton record with Atkinson bodes ill for the Derby

Everton fans will not be impressed whatsoever by the selection of Martin Atkinson as the referee for the return leg of the Merseyside Derby on Sunday.

The Toffees already have a poor track record with the Yorkshire-born official in charge, and it’s been even worse this season. Atkinson was the referee for two games at Goodison Park, both of which ended in losses to West Ham United and Leicester City, with five bookings handed to the Blues.

This weekend’s 233rd Derby will be Atkinson’s sixth, with the Blues having picked up two draws and three losses in the previous games.

• 6th Feb ‘10 - handed out a red card to each side as Liverpool won 1-0 at home.
• 1st Oct ‘11 - controversially sent off Jack Rodwell at Goodison in a game that ended 2-0 for the visitors.
• 28th Jan ‘14 - three Blues in the book as Liverpool romped 4-0 at Anfield.
• 27th Sep ‘14 - the Reds were headed for a victory until Phil Jagielka’s thunderbolt at the Kop end garnered the Blues a 1-1 draw.
• 4th Oct ‘15 - another 1-1 draw, this time at Goodison, leading to Brendan Rodgers getting sacked at Liverpool. Controversially again, he failed to show a second yellow card to Lucas Leiva who was doing his best UFC impression on the day.

Those games aside, Atkinson is not well liked around the blue half of Merseyside thanks to some other controversial refereeing incidents the past involving the Toffees -

• Blowing the final whistle as Everton were attacking a shell-shocked Manchester United at Goodison Park in September 2010.
• Stevan Jovetic dive against Manchester City in January 2015.
• Allowing City’s Raheem Sterling to go out of bounds with the ball in the January 2016 Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at the Etihad.
• Abusing captain Phil Jagielka soon after he missed the call from above.

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Match Officials details -

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Assistants: S Child, L Betts

Fourth official: P Tierney

Martin Atkinson’s Everton record -

World Football

Image counts Sunday’s game as a draw.

Referee data courtesy of World Football