Peter Bankes – The referee who incensed Mourinho and Conte appointed for Tottenham vs Arsenal

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The PGMOL have confirmed that Peter Bankes will be the referee for Sunday’s North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal, with the match official having some history with Spurs in the past.

Bankes will take charge of the hotly anticipated fixture with Tottenham needing a win to claim their first in the Premier League in 2026 and Arsenal desperate to prove they’re not bottling the title once again after a 2-2 draw with Wolves.

The Merseyside-based official has been extremely active this season and is one of the best-performing Premier League officials it would seem, especially given that he’s got a fixture of this magnitude.

With Bankes, getting the nod to do Tottenham against Arsenal, it’s worth looking back at how he famously had a spat with both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte during their spells in North London.

• READ MORE: Igor Tudor mentions attacking intent

Famous Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte spats with Peter Bankes

In September 2020, Mourinho was incensed with Bankes during a 1-1 draw with Newcastle, a game in which the Magpies were gifted a point when the referee gave a very harsh handball decision against Eric Dier.

VAR asked Bankes to head over to the screen and check his original decision, with Mourinho famously refusing to comment on the incident but suggesting Tottenham were often disrespected by referees.

In August 2022, Bankes was on the wrong end of some sharp words from another Tottenham manager, with Conte raging with him after a game against West Ham.

The Italian boss wasn’t at all impressed with how Bankes handled a penalty call when he overturned an on-field decision against Aaron Cresswell to deny Spurs a penalty.

The manager called Bankes ’embarrassing’ and found the decision ‘very, very strange’ after Spurs didn’t come out on the right side of the decision.

Finally, and most recently, Ange Postecoglou was raging that two penalties weren’t awarded to James Maddison during a 2-1 win over Sheffield United, with Spurs needing two injury time goals

Bankes’ performance that day was called a disaster-class and ultimately the hope will be that he be much better when Spurs play Arsenal this weekend.

Tottenham have to believe they can beat Arsenal

Although Arsenal are chasing the title, the might only be two points clear at the top of the Premier League by the time they face Spurs at the weekend.

That will automatically pile the pressure on the Gunners and perhaps this is an extremely good time for Spurs to be coming up against Mikel Arteta’s men.

Bankes refereeing can’t be something that Spurs beat themselves up about and all the team can do is control the controllable instead.

Igor Tudor will want to get off to a really positive start and although the club still has a number of injury concerns, there has to be a strong belief that Tottenham can claim all three points this weekend.