It may not quite be a must-win game, but West Ham United's poor start to the Premier League campaign has heaped additional pressure upon Julen Lopetegui's team ahead of this weekend's visit of newly-promoted Ipswich Town.
With only one win from their opening six Premier League games, and fixtures against Tottenham and Manchester United to follow, only a win for the Hammers against the former Championship side this weekend will be enough to keep the natives from getting increasingly restless.And it has been confirmed that the fixture will be officiated by Premier League regular Anthony Taylor, who has been officiating in the top flight for the last 14 years.
The Manchester-born official has refereed nearly 400 Premier League fixtures since making his bow back in 2010, including European ties and games at the recent Euros and World Cup Finals.
This season Taylor has taken six matches so far, averaging just under six yellow cards per game - having shown 35 since the beginning of the season, more than any other referee - and 0.17 red cards.
He will be accompanied on Saturday by assistants Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn in Stratford, while Andrew Kitchen has been appointed as the fourth official. Meanwhile, on VAR duty will be Darren England and his assistant Scott Ledger.
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