Under-fire refs get Cup tonic
UNDER-FIRE referees Anthony Taylor and Kevin Friend will both be involved in FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, the latter as a fourth official.
Taylor is to take charge of Arsenal’s clash with non-League Lincoln at the Emirates Stadium, with Friend taking up the fourth official role earlier in the day when Middlesbrough host Manchester City.
The pair have come in for criticism in relation to incidents in Premier League games they refereed on Saturday.
Taylor awarded a penalty to Burnley for handball during their 3-2 defeat at Swansea when the offender was Clarets striker Sam Vokes.
Friend did not see two incidents in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth that have led to Football Association charges of alleged violent conduct - Tyrone Mings’ boot landing on the head of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the Swede’s elbow striking the defender in the face.
That was a few days after Friend joined Taylor on the latter’s stag do in Marbella. It understood they both received permission to go from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited and returned to the UK early last week.
Saido Berahino is determined to move on from his past mistakes as he looks to prove a point to himself at his new club Stoke.
Berahino joined the Potters in January to bring an end to his troubled time at West Brom - although it was only shortly after the move that it emerged he had served an eight-week Football Association ban earlier this season for using a recreational drug.
Speaking ahead of Stoke’s Premier League clash with Manchester City tonight, the 23-year-old striker told Sky Sports: “I have a lot to prove to myself first of all, and I think I owe that to myself.
“I’ve let myself down a lot, and it’s time that I put it right and prove to myself I can be the player that was showing good signs (a few years ago).”
Berahino, who scored 20 goals in all competitions for Albion in 2014-15, has stressed his desire to create “great memories” at Stoke.
“I’m naive at times,” he said. “Nowadays people are interested in all the wrong stuff, the bad press.
“Sometimes you just have to be stronger than that, and put your hand up and accept that you made mistakes. No one knows the full story, apart from the FA and the club. It’s hard.
“But you have to take it on the chin. I put myself in that situation and you have to pay for your actions.” ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC has accepted his Football Association charge for violent conduct and will miss Manchester United’s next three domestic games.
The 35-year-old will be suspended for Monday’s FA Cup clash at Chelsea and Premier League fixtures with Middlesbrough and West Brom.
Ibrahimovic had been charged by the FA for elbowing Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings in Saturday’s draw at Old Trafford - and the Cherries defender could be sanctioned with a ban of his own for an alleged stamp on the Swede’s head.
Jose Mourinho’s leading marksman has scored 26 goals in his first season in English football and his absence will be keenly felt given no other United player has managed to reach double figures.
Ibrahimovic was in the travelling party bound for Russia on Tuesday and is available for both legs of their Europa League clash with FC Rostov, but he will be absent on the domestic scene until Everton visit Old Trafford on April 4.
It compounds a bad few days for the veteran Swede after he had a spot-kick saved by Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc in the draw, having already had a run-in with Mings.
Their ongoing tussle escalated on the stroke of half-time.