It's Atkinson At Anfield

Martin Atkinson will take charge of Newcastle United's trip to Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

It is the fourth time the Yorkshire-based official has overseen a Magpies match this season, having been the man in the middle of September's 2-2 home draw with Chelsea, a 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa just before Christmas, and last month's 1-1 Tyne-Wear derby draw against Sunderland.

On that afternoon against the Black Cats, he booked five players including the United quartet of Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback, Jonjo Shelvey and goalscorer Aleksandar Mitrovic.

In total during the 2015/16 campaign, Atkinson has refereed 42 games across the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, Capital One Cup and international level, handing out 156 yellow cards and just one red. He has also awarded three penalties.

Having started refereeing at the age of 16 in his local Bradford leagues, Atkinson rose through the leagues and was appointed to his first top flight fixture in April 2005, as Manchester City took on Birmingham City.

He has grown in stature to be regarded as one of the country's top referees and in recent years has overseen the 2006 FA Community Shield, the 2011 FA Cup Final, and the 2014 Capital One Cup final.

Atkinson, aged 45, has also run the rule over numerous World Cup and European Championships qualifiers and Champions League fixtures, and was handed the 2015 Europa League final between Dnipro and Sevilla.

Along with another fellow English referee Mark Clattenburg, he will also officiate at Euro 2016 in France next summer.

On Saturday at Anfield, Atkinson will be assisted by Stephen Child and Harry Lennard, with Neil Swarbrick the game's fourth official.