The Magpies welcome the reigning champions to St. James' Park for their final fixture before Christmas, hoping to make it back-to-back home victories following the win over Burnley on Tyneside earlier this month.

And Atkinson has been appointed for the match, which will be his first trip to St. James' since he took charge of the 2021/22 curtain-raiser against West Ham in August.

That 4-2 defeat is the only other game involving Newcastle that the 50-year-old has refereed so far this term, with Jonjo Shelvey the only player Atkinson opted to show a yellow card to on that occasion.

The West Riding-born official, a top flight referee since 2005 and a FIFA-listed whistler between 2006 and 2018, has had ten outings so far this term, all of which have come in the Premier League.

He has been relatively restrained in his use of cards so far, issuing just 23 in those games, while he has produced two reds – one for Arsenal's Granit Xhaka in their 5-0 defeat at the hands of City and one for Southampton's James Ward-Prowse in their 3-1 loss at Chelsea.

Having been the man in the middle for a League Cup and FA Cup final, as well as earning selection for the 2016 European Championships, Atkinson is one of the most experienced referees on the Premier League circuit. He will be assisted by Lee Betts and Darren Cann on Sunday afternoon, with Peter Bankes named as fourth official.

The role of VAR will be filled by Craig Pawson, who will be assisted by Richard West.