Andre Marriner Will Referee Southampton V Newcastle

Myopic Marriner WILL Referee This Weekend At Southampton V Newcastle

Referee Andre Marriner will not be demoted to the Championship and will take charge of Newcastle's visit to Southampton in the Barclays Premier League.

Marriner erroneously sent off Kieran Gibbs, rather than Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, for handball during Chelsea's 6-0 evisceration of Arsenal on Saturday for one of the most memorable English refereeing errors.

Although referees are often punished for committing such catastrophic errors by taking charge of a lower tier match or being "rested", Marriner will referee in the top flight one week on from his clanger.

Marriner erroneously sends off Kieran Gibbs instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

After Arsenal's defeat, referees' body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited said: "Incidents of mistaken identity are very rare and are often the result of a number of different technical factors.

"While this was a difficult decision, Andre is disappointed that he failed to identify the correct player.

"He expressed his disappointment to Arsenal when he was made aware of the issue."

Marriner was criticised earlier this season for awarding Chelsea midfielder Ramires a dubious last-minute penalty at home against West Brom.

Eden Hazard converted the spot-kick to maintain José Mourinho's unbeaten home Premier League record, which stretches over three-and-a-half seasons.

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