Premier League make Newcastle United v Wolves official decision after 'scandalous' claim

Tim Robinson has been appointed as match referee for Newcastle United's Premier League clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers at St James' Park.

After beating Blackburn Rovers 4-3 on a penalties on Tuesday to advance into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, the Magpies return to league action hoping to bounce back from last week's 4-1 defeat at Arsenal and claim their first win on home turf in 2024.

Robinson will oversee his third Magpies fixture this term after the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in October and the 3-0 defeat at Everton in December. Both of his matches involving Wolves have also ended in victories for Gary O'Neil's side against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Newcastle and Wolves played out a 2-2 draw at Molineux in October where O'Neil criticised the officials for the decision to award the Magpies a first-half penalty when Fabian Schar went to ground under a challenge by Hwang Hee-chan.

“There wasn’t a penalty in the first half. It’s a scandalous decision. Terrible. It was a terrible on-field decision and terrible that VAR didn’t intervene. I think they got it badly wrong. He goes to clear the ball and makes such minimal contact with Schar, hardly any, just a glance of the boot.

“Schar is already on his way down and the ball actually hits Channy’s (Chan) other boot before he even makes contact with Schar, so technically Chan gets the ball before he contacts Schar. That’s why it was a terrible decision.”

Eddie Howe's men twice led at Molineux through Callum Wilson but were pegged back via goals from Mario Lemina Hee-Chan Hwang. Wolves recently overtook Newcastle in the Premier League table as they currently sit ninth, one point ahead.