Confirmed Officials: Chelsea vs Preston | FA Cup

The officials have been confirmed for Chelsea’s FA Cup tie against Preston North End at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Mauricio Pochettino‘s side are looking to duplicate their Carabao Cup run in the FA Cup this weekend when they face Ryan Lowe’s Championship outfit.

Chelsea are in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and begin their FA Cup campaign with a home tie against the 14th place side, with Pochettino eyeing domestic success as their route to qualifying for European football next season.

“The Carabao Cup and FA Cup are competitions we need to try to go further and arrive (in the final),” Pochettino told reporters in his pre-match press conference. “Before we need to go step by step. The first step is tomorrow (Saturday).

“It is a really important competition for us because we are not in European competition and in the Premier League we need to improve a lot if we want to play in Europe next season.

“Through the FA Cup or Carabao Cup we can achieve to play next season in Europe. It’s important because from the start we had three competitions and we are still in three competitions.”

Now the officials for the cup tie have been revealed by the FA ahead of the encounter.

Referee

The FA have confirmed that Thomas Bramall will take charge of the meeting in London.

Assistants

Thomas Bramall will be supported by Wade Smith and Akil Howson on the touchline.

Fourth Official

Keith Stroud has been named as the Fourth Official for Saturday’s match, with the referee overseeing conduct within the two dugouts, and the behaviour of Mauricio Pochettino and Ryan Lowe.

VAR/Assistant VAR

Overviewing proceedings from Stockley Park on Saturday evening will be Tony Harrington, who has been named as the Video Assistant Referee, with Peter Bankes as the supporting VAR. Timothy Wood will take the duty of Assistant Video Assistant Referee.