Martin Atkinson of Leeds will referee his fifth Liverpool game of the season, but only the second in the Premiership.
Martin is not one of Liverpool's luckier officials, we have only won three out of the ten previous games played with him in the middle.

He is in only his third season in the top flight of English football, and he refereed his first European fixture as Kalmar beat FC Twente in the Intertoto Cup first leg. The Swedes were defeated 3-1 though in the second leg and went out. Then in December he was in Germany for a UEFA Cup game between Bayer Leverkusen and Sparta Prague.

The 37-year old from Morley, started refereeing at the age of 16 in his local leagues. It took him 11 years before he reached Football League Assistant level. He spent two seasons with the flag in the Football League before promotion to The Premiership. He still keeps close to the grass roots of football and refereed the West Riding County U-14 Trophy Final last season.

He only spent two seasons as a referee before getting into The Premiership, and celebrated getting into the top league by refereeing the Division Two Play-Off Final between Southend United and Lincoln City at Cardiff.

He has refereed Fulham twice this season, both games ended 0-0, against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge back in September, and at Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup. His last game at Craven Cottage in the Premiership ended up a 1-0 win against Everton in November 2006.

His last two Liverpool games saw both our domestic cup runs end, with a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in the Carling Cup and a 2-1 home defeat by Barnsley.

His assistants for the game are Barry Sygmuta and Stephen Artis with Keith Stroud as the fourth official.

A few memorable matches involving Liverpool and Martin Atkinson:

22nd October 2005 - His first Liverpool appointment ends with a 2-0 defeat at Fulham.

4th March 2006 - Fernando Morientes plays in his 50th Liverpool game as we draw 0-0 at home to Charlton Athletic.

13th August 2006 - Another victory over Chelsea. Riise and Crouch net in a 2-1 Community Shield victory in Cardiff.

9th January 2007 - Arsenal run riot at Anfield and win 6-3 in the quarter-final of the Carling Cup. Julio Baptista scores four goals and becomes the first player in over 60 years to score that many at Anfield. It was also the first time in 77 years that a visiting team had scored six times. The game was also Luis Garcia's last for Liverpool after he was carried off injured.

3rd March 2007 - A last minute O'Shea goal gives Manchester United the points at Anfield.

25th September 2007 - Debuts for Hobbs, Itandje, Lucas and Leto during a 4-2 win at Reading in the Carling Cup. Torres scores his first hat-trick for Liverpool and Benayoun scores his first Liverpool goal.

19th December 2007 - Peter Crouch sees red as we bow out of this seasons' Carling Cup with a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea.

16th February 2008 - Barnsley produce an FA Cup shock at Anfield winning 2-1 after Kuyt had given us a first-half lead.