Eddie Howe's side travel to Old Trafford for their final fixture of the calendar year and this will be the third time Hooper has officiated a fixture involving the Magpies this term.

The Swindon-born official, promoted to the Select Group of Referees list in 2018, was the man in the middle for United's 2-1 defeat against Chelsea in October and booked a total of nine players at Stamford Bridge, including Newcastle trio Fabian Schär, Sandro Tonali and Sean Longstaff.

The 42-year-old also oversaw the Magpies' 4-2 away defeat against Brentford earlier this month handed out three yellow cards that afternoon, booking no Newcastle players.

In the 11 Premier League fixtures Hooper has officiated so far this season, the Wiltshire whistler has shown a total of 54 yellow cards and two red cards.

2024/25 stats

Games (all competitions): 15

Yellow cards issued: 73

Red cards issued: 2

Assistants

Assistant referees: Adrian Holmes and Simon Long

Fourth official: Andy Madley

VAR: Paul Tierney

Assistant VAR: Con Hatzidakis