FA make official decision ahead of Bristol City vs Wolves cup clash at Ashton Gate

The FA have confirmed that Robert Jones will be the referee for Bristol City’s highly-anticipated home match against Wolves in the third round of the FA Cup as the Robins aim to cause an upset against Premier League opposition.

Jones is an experienced referee who has officiated in the English Football League since 2016 after two years in the National League.

Over the last nine years, he has taken charge of 189 contests at Football League level and above including three play-off finals, one Europa League match and one European Championship qualifier.

Jones has taken charge of five Bristol City games over the course of his career and is yet to see the Robins taste defeat, with City winning three and drawing twice, according to WhoScored.

He has also overseen 11 Wolves games in his career, with the Old Gold winning four, losing four and drawing three times at Premier League level. Jones will team up with assistant referees Ian Hussain and Neil Davies as well as fourth official Stephen Martin.

Will VAR be used?

The use of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will only be used in the 2024/25 Emirates FA Cup from the fifth round onwards to ensure a consistent refereeing approach for all teams taking part in the same stage of the competition.

Wolves were the only one of 20 Premier League teams to vote against keeping VAR in the top-flight and former manager Gary O’Neil had been a vocal critic of the technology.

Bristol City’ upcoming FA Cup opponents

Wolves currently sit 17th in the Premier League table after the half way stage with 16 points from their opening 20 league matches.

The West Midlands outfit have the worst defensive record in the entire division and have leaked 45 goals in that time which is an average of 2.25 goals per game.

Wolves sacked manager Gary O’Neil in December and replaced him with nomadic Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira and since his arrival have picked up seven points from a possible 12.

The Old Gold have struggled defensively but are currently amongst the highest scoring teams in the bottom half of the table with 31 strikes from 20 matches. The bulk of these have either been scored or created by Matheus Cunha, who boasts a record 10 goals and four assists in the top-flight.

Wolves reached the quarter-final of last season’s FA Cup before imploding in a 3-2 defeat to Championship side Coventry City. Pereira will hope to make a strong impression in his first taste of England’s oldest and most prestigious domestic cup competition, but is expected to make some alterations to his team as he prioritises achieving Premier League survival.

There will be no replays in this FA Cup fixture, meaning if the match is level it will be decided by extra time and possibly even penalties. Something which Robins boss Liam Manning’s admits he has mixed feelings about, he explained, via Bristol Live: "It's a tough one.I understand lower down the pyramid the impact that replays can have on some clubs financially. I totally get that side of it as well. Where we're at, it was obviously a big thing for us last year but at the same point, the players are stretched to the max anyway in terms of the volume of games they're playing.

"For me, it's contradictory feelings on it but hey, we've not made the decision so what we will do is be prepared for the weekend to play as long as need to."

Elsewhere, Bristol Rovers will also target an upset in their match against Ipswich Town. Ahead of the game former Celtic star Chris Sutton highlighted a key weakness in Ipswich Town’s team that the Pirates could exploit but admitted he sees it being a difficult afternoon for Iñigo Calderon’s side.