Referee announced for Wolves game- West Ham unbeaten in last four games under him

The Premier League resumes this weekend after the three month Covid-19 enforced break, and West Ham’s first fixture sees them square off against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday evening.

The referee for this game has been announced, and it’s someone under whom the Hammers have a pretty good recent record- Anthony Taylor.

The Hammers are unbeaten in their last four games with Taylor as referee, and have lost only once in the last eight Premier League games when he’s been in charge of affairs.

West Ham’s last eight Premier League games under Anthony Taylor (most recent first)

West Ham 3-1 Southampton (2019/20)
West Ham 2-0 Manchester United (2019/20)
Brighton 1-1 West Ham (2019/20)
Tottenham 0-1 West Ham (2018/19)
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace (2018/19)
Liverpool 4-0 West Ham (2018/19)
West Ham 1-0 Chelsea (2017/18)
West Ham 1-0 Tottenham (2016/17)

That’s six wins, a draw against Brighton (who have never lost a top flight league game under Taylor), and one loss (to a strong Liverpool side)

While West Ham are unbeaten this season under Taylor, Wolves haven’t enjoyed as much success under him. In 2019/20 Taylor has been in charge of three Wolves games and they won only one- a 2-1 result against local rivals Villa. The defeats came away from Molineux and both to Merseyside opposition- a 1-0 to Liverpool and a 3-2 loss at the hands of Everton.

Taylor has issued 15 cards in his three games involving Wolves this season. His fixtures involving West Ham have produced only 8 in comparison.

When was the last time Anthony Taylor refereed a West Ham v Wolves game?

Taylor last took charge of this fixture in the 2015/16 season- a FA Cup clash that the Hammers edged 1-0 thanks to Nikica Jelavic’s late winner.

The Hammers are a lowly 16th in the table while Wolves are 7th (and a whopping 16 points ahead), but they will be hoping that their good run under Taylor continues this weekend.

The Cheshire born ref was in action just a few days ago, taking charge of the Man City v Arsenal clash. He sent off Gunners defender David Luiz and awarded City a penalty that Kevin de Bruyne duly converted.