Liverpool fans mightn’t be overly enthused at seeing who’s been appointed as the referee for their Premier League fixture away to Bournemouth next weekend.Andoni Iraola returns to the Vitality Stadium off the back of a dreary home draw for his side at home to Fulham on Saturday, while his successor Marco Rose is still awaiting his first top-flight win with the Cherries despite them leading in each of their last four matches.The Reds will have an extra 48 hours to prepare for the fixture against a team who are in Europa League action away to Real Sociedad on Thursday night.Officials confirmed for Bournemouth v LiverpoolOn Monday, the Premier League confirmed the match officials for next weekend’s fixtures, with Michael Oliver appointed as the man in the middle for Liverpool’s game against Bournemouth.Stuart Burt and James Mainwarings are his assistants, with Simon Hooper as the fourth official. Craig Pawson is on VAR duty, assisted by Lee Betts.(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustLiverpool have had run-ins with Oliver in the pastFor Liverpool fans, the mention of Oliver’s name may trigger immediate flashbacks to the fiery Goodison Park derby in February 2025, when both Everton goals were shrouded in controversy and Arne Slot and Sipke Hulshoff were red-carded over their protests at full-time.Thr 41-year-old was also on VAR for the Reds’ 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last season when Virgil van Dijk had an equaliser wrongly disallowed for an alleged offside offence by Andy Robertson.Our recent record with the Northumberland official in charge isn’t exactly auspicious – we’ve won just one of our last seven matches with him refereeing (1-0 v Burnley a year ago today), and he’s since had the whistle for defeats to both Manchester clubs (United at Anfield last October, City in the FA Cup in April).Speaking of Manchester, Oliver was the referee for the derby at Old Trafford on Sunday in which Erling Haaland scored a highly controversial winner as VAR overturned the initial on-field decision of offside, with Pro Ref later acknowleding that the wrong call was made by the officials in Stockley Park.In that instance, we maintain that the on-field ref had no real culpability and was let down by his colleagues on VAR, who haven’t been assigned to any Premier League games next weekend (BBC Sport).We just hope that the Northumberland whistler isn’t the main talking point from Liverpool’s match at Bournemouth in six days’ time.The post Liverpool fans may be fearing the worst over referee appointment for Bournemouth clash appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.