Leeds United have now been handed their referee appointment for the game against Preston North End on Saturday.
Leeds United go into another crucial must-win game in the Championship this weekend, taking on a Preston North End side managed by a former Whites boss in Paul Heckingbottom.
He took just four wins from 16 games in charge of the club in 2018. Now at Preston, he has just five wins in 21, with his side currently sitting in 14th place of the Championship table.
That’s compared to Daniel Farke’s side who sit in 2nd place after Leeds United beat Middlesbrough 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Leeds have now won five of their last six in the Championship and sit a massive 19 points ahead of Preston who’ve won just one of their last 10 league fixtures, but who are also unbeaten in five after a 2-0 win at Cardiff City on Wednesday night.
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John Busby appointed referee for Preston North End vs Leeds United
For Saturday’s 12:30pm kick off at Deepdale, Leeds United and Preston have been handed John Busby as the referee.
So far this season, Busby has overseen more Championship games than any other referee (13), having dished out 48 yellow cards (3.69 yellows cards-per-game), and two red cards.
Busby ranks 21st of all Championship referees this season for fouls-per-game (22.85) and 19th for penalties-per-game (0.15).
Saturday’s game will be just the second Leeds game that Busby has refereed, though he was the fourth official for Leeds United’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United back in October.
John Busby had Carlos Corberan fuming after West Brom controversy
Carlos Corberan, who learned his trade as Marcelo Bielsa’s no.2 at Leeds United previously, is now managing West Brom in the Championship.
And Busby recently left Corberan fuming after his West Brom side were denied what he thought was an obvious penalty call in their 0-0 draw against Blackburn Rovers in October.
After the game, Corberan spoke out on the decision and on Busby, telling Birmingham Live: “I think the action of the penalty, live, [Darnell] Furlong received a foul.
“A foul in the box, it’s a penalty. Because he was in the position and the defender makes a foul to avoid the finishing of Furlong.
“In these actions, the referee didn’t understand enough probably to issue a penalty. It has not been a penalty because the referee didn’t whistle. But live, it was an obvious one.”
Preston against Leeds United kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday and will be shown live on Sky Sports.
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