Darren England to officiate big derby game as Man Utd prepare to host Man City

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Darren England will take charge of his first match since he was at the centre of the VAR controversy in the game between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.

The referee will officiate the Championship fixture between Cardiff City and Bristol City, otherwise known as the Severnside derby on Saturday (October 28), according to the Daily Mail. The game marks England's return to being the man in the middle after being found at fault for Luis Diaz's wrongly disallowed goal in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Spurs on September 30.

Following the game, the PGMOL blamed "significant human error" for the decision to disallow the Colombian's goal for offside as England and Dan Cook – who was the AVAR during the game – were both axed from the next round of Premier League fixtures.

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The official continues to be eased back into duties as he was named the fourth official in Brentford's home game against Burnley last Saturday while Cook ran the line in Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Sheffield United this past weekend.

England's blunder in September's fixture led to a spectacular fallout where the PGMOL were urged to release the audio of the conversation between on-field referee Simon Hooper, England, Cook and other VAR operatives at Stockley Park in west London when Diaz's goal was marked off.

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The refereeing body subsequently publicly released the audio as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted the fair thing to do would be to replay the match. Prior to the release of the audio, the PGMOL issued an apology to the Reds which wasn't well received by Klopp who said: "Who does that help? We had that situation in the Man Utd game. Did Wolves get the points for it? We won’t get the points for it.

"We all thought that when VAR came in it would make things easier. I never saw a game like this with the most unfair circumstances, crazy decisions." While England takes charge one of derby, a major one in the Premier League will take centre stage on Sunday (October 29) as Manchester United host Manchester City in the first Manchester derby of the season.

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