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da esoccer bet： Robert Jones has been appointed to oversee the 127th Second City derby, as Aston Villa host local rivals Birmingham City at Villa Park.
The bitter opponents head into the affair tied on 24 points, with Villa ahead thanks to a superior goal difference.
Dean Smith’s side have outscored the Blue half of the city by four goals – netting the fifth highest total in the Championship – but a habit of conceding leaves the Villans just a single goal better off.
Victory for either side will move the respective club towards the Play-Off positions, whereas defeat will leave the relegation zone a daunting prospect.
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Throughout the opening 17 fixtures, both Birmingham-based clubs have become familiar to the referee’s attention, with Garry Monk’s men carded 27 times to the Villans’ 25.
Sunday’s affair will be Jones’ first in charge of a Second City derby, and he is yet to officiate a Birmingham fixture. The biggest match he has presided over was QPR’s 2-0 win over London rivals Millwall in September – he has never officiated in the Premier League.
What will come as comfort to the two Birmingham sides, though, is that the referee – only promoted from League One last year – had only the 15th highest rate of yellow cards out of the 31 officials called on by the EFL this season before the action kicked off this weekend. That should allow for a hard-fought derby without the fear of dismissals through second bookings.
Jones averages a total of 3.42 yellow cards per game, having booked players on 41 occasions across his 12 appearances. The referee, who made his debut in 2011 at a Wigan Under 23s versus Arsenal reserves match, has also shown a single red card.
While the Englishman has not refereed Birmingham before, he has held the whistle at two Villa matches. In a worrying omen for Dean Smith’s side, they suffered defeat in both fixtures – losing to Peterborough United in the FA Cup and Bolton Wanderers in last season’s Championship campaign.
But fans of both sides should go into the game expecting the whistle to be blown regularly. In Jones’ 12 appearances this season, he has averaged 27.25 fouls per game and racked up the joint-third highest return in the Championship for fouls per tackle (prior to this weekend’s action).