It will be just Mason’s fifth outing of the campaign when United take on Nuno Espirito Santo’s men at Molineux, with the Magpies bidding to bounce back from last weekend’s home defeat to Manchester United.

And 48-year-old Mason is no stranger to Newcastle, having been a top-flight official since 2006 after working his way up through the lower divisions as both a referee and an assistant referee.

The Bolton-born whistler, one of the Premier League’s most experienced referees, will be taking charge of his first fixture involving United this term on Sunday.

Two of his appointments this term have come in the Premier League – Leicester City’s win over Burnley last month and Arsenal’s home win against Sheffield United earlier in October – while the other two, wins for Fulham and Tottenham over Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea respectively, came in the Carabao Cup.

And Mason is yet to produce a red card so far this term, though he has issued ten yellows.

Last season, he oversaw four Newcastle games – and, though he refereed 26 matches in all during 2019/20, he dished out just the one red card, to Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp in their 1-0 home defeat to Southampton.

Marc Perry and Adrian Holmes will assist Mason this weekend, with Darren Bond acting as fourth official.

Andrew Madley will fill the role of VAR, and will be assisted by Richard West.