Why Liverpool fans have every right to be worried about Chris Kavanagh appointment vs Man City

The phrase the world will be watching is perhaps over-used in football, but very much will be the case on Sunday. In their first match since being found guilty of all 115 of the Premier League's charges, Manchester City travel to Anfield, taking on Liverpool, the biggest victims of their industrial level and systemic cheating.

Fair to say, Anfield will be absolutely rocking, meaning a strong refereeing team will be required, more so than ever. Thus, find out who Pro Ref have appointed for this massive game.

Liverpool vs Manchester: Refereeing team

• Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

• Assistant referees: Dan Cook West & Nick Greenhalgh.

• Fourth official: Andy Madley.

• Video assistant referee: Paul Howard.

• Assistant video assistant referee: Nick Hopton.

There is always an extra layer of tension when match officials are announced for a fixture of this magnitude. But as Liverpool prepare to lock horns with Manchester City, the Premier League’s decision to put Chris Kavanagh in the middle has raised more than a few eyebrows around the fanbase and not just because of his recent record with the Reds.

For a fixture that often hinges on the finest of margins, refereeing appointments carry huge weight. While Liverpool supporters are well aware of their own patchy record under the 41-year-old official winning just three of their last 11 matches with him in charge a look across the league shows that Andoni Iraola might be watching this weekend's officials with an equally sharp eye.

In fact, the last time Iraola tasted defeat in the Premier League, it was Kavanagh holding the whistle as his former Bournemouth side fell to defeat to Arsenal. The Spaniard did not hold back after the final whistle, venting his frustration over what he felt was a distinct lack of game management and common sense from the referee in the dying moments.

Speaking after that match, Iraola questioned several late decisions that fundamentally altered the flow of stoppage time:

"I think there are no big key decisions that he has made mistakes," Iraola admitted at the time. "I complained about the third goal because I think it's not a foul to (Jurrien) Timber. He tries to turn, we don't touch him and he goes to the floor and the goal comes from this free kick.

"But it's not about this. It's about the stoppage time minutes. He has given six. He has shown also a couple of yellow cards at the end to Junior Kroupi and Amine Adli, soft fouls.

"We can discuss if he's a foul or not, but very soft fouls. That gives them, for every yellow card, maybe the right to lose one minute, the right to lose another minute and then straight away six minutes, he doesn't give any seconds.

"We have Antoine Semenyo going inside the box, one against one, to finish with all the team there. I think it's common sense. You cannot whistle in that moment, the end of the game. He was arguing that in the first half he did something similar but I've just seen it before coming here.

"He gives Martin Odegaard the chance to cross, he gives Piero Hincapie the chance to cross, and then when they play backward, he whistles."

That blow-up at the Emirates was far from an small incident for Iraola when it came to Kavanagh’s decision-making. Around twelve months earlier, the manager was left fuming when Kavanagh awarded a controversial penalty against Tyler Adams during a 1-1 draw with West Ham United.

After a intervention from VAR, Kavanagh penalised Adams when an Aaron Wan-Bissaka cross grazed his arm. Lucas Paqueta stepped up to convert, denying Bournemouth two points. Iraola later argued that the call flew directly in the face of the Premier League chiefs regarding proximity and natural arm positions.

So far this season, Kavanagh has taken charge of three Premier League fixtures, but this weekend marks his first outing involving either Liverpool or Manchester City in the current campaign.

The 41 year old has been a Premier League referee since 2017 and was added to UEFA's "elite list" last December. He will be a familiar face to Liverpool fans, but how do the Reds tend to fare with Kavanagh in charge?

Chris Kavanagh's Liverpool matches as referee (24/25 & 25/26)

This marks Kavanagh's first time officiating a Liverpool match this season. He was the referee for nine matches under former boss Arne Slot last term and three the previous year, with the Reds winning only three of their last 11 games under his whistle. albeit one of these victories was April's 2-1 Merseyside derby victory at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Kavanagh is no stranger to high-stakes Liverpool fixtures, having taken charge of the 2024 Carabao Cup final at Wembley when Jürgen Klopp's depleted side famously claimed a 1–0 extra-time victory over Chelsea, sealed by a 118th-minute header from Virgil van Dijk.

In 2026, the 41-year-old official has overseen five matches involving the Reds, showing remarkable leniency along the way booking just a single Liverpool player across those fixtures, with Joe Gomez the sole recipient of a yellow cardduring May's 4–2 defeat at Villa Park, where Van Dijk's double couldn't overcome strikes from Morgan Rogers, John McGinn, and a brace from Ollie Watkins.

Across all matches, since the start of last season, Kavanagh has shown 215 yellow cards and eight reds in 53 games, an average of 4.2 cards per 90. So far this season, he has sent off Aleksandr Shirobokov of Kairat, this during a Europa League qualifier against Anderlecht, as well as Crystal Palace's Axel Disasi, as they were beaten 3-2 by Ipswich at Selhurst last month.

Back to Liverpool, he has twice cautioned Ryan Gravenberch, but there does not appear to be much a trend, which is probably a good thing. Let's just hope Kavanagh is not the talking point come Sunday evening.

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