Why Stuart Attwell will be 'oblivious' to Premier League fallout ahead of Sunderland vs Leeds United

Stuart Attwell will take charge of Leeds United in their trip to Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.

The Whites are looking to return to winning ways after going three games without a victory in the Premier League.

Daniel Farke has Leeds sitting seventh ahead of the Stadium of Light showdown, with Sunderland somehow rock bottom.

But, with Attwell in charge, bad memories have been revisited.

In this exact fixture at Elland Road last season, Leeds lost 1-0 through a penalty given after VAR intervented.

That's after the officials missed a clear penalty for a challenge on Pascal Struijk, one which was admitted after the game, which means nothing.

Keith Hackett believes that recent history like that, isn't likely taken into account when making these appointments.

Did history come into Premier League's decision?

The Premier League appear to have forgotten recent history between Attwell and this fixture.

Hackett believes that this and other recent appointments prove it's a lucky dip, but hopes it will be a good game with the referee in great form.

Speaking exclusively to MOT Leeds News, the ex-FIFA official couldn't understand the decision-making in some games.

"ProRef frankly, on recent selections ignore history and just appear to pull referee selections out of a hat," Hackett said.

"Attwell is having his best season to date and will go into the game oblivious of previous comments or incidents that have taken place in the fixture last year.

"Let’s hope that he delivers a game incident free.

"However, given the approach of these two teams this will not be an easy game to officiate."

What to expect from Sunderland v Leeds

This will not be an easy game to officiate.

One word that immediately comes to mind is physicality.

Sunderland will have Brian Brobbey back available, but will be missing Dan Ballard and Kevin Danso in defence.

That's a huge boost to someone like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who will be looking to bully his opposing defence once again.

With set pieces also likely to play a part, Tarik Muharemovic and Nico Elvedi will be looking to make a difference.

Having officiated this game recently, and missing a clear offence from a set-piece, Attwell knows he'll need to be paying much closer attention to those scenarios this time around.