PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

There’s only one big game this week: Manchester United v. Chelsea. My man Phil Dowd will take charge, and it’s a good thing. These clubs and their managers are a handful, to say the least, and Dowd leads all Premier League referees with 55 yellow cards to date. (Though no red cards. Yet.)

Mark Clattenburg has a tough one with Crystal Palace v. Stoke, mostly because everyone hates him. Stoke because he has history with Tony Pulis, and Palace because he awarded Tottenham a controversial penalty in their first game back in the top flight.

One other interesting note:

Mike Jones, who had a Day of Horror at Newcastle last Sunday, will not take charge of a match this week. Instead, he’ll assist Chris Foy as fourth official at Sunderland. He could probably use the break…