Man in the Middle: Kevin Friend

Kevin Friend will be the man in the middle when Swansea City host Queens Park Rangers on Saturday (3pm).

Premier League official Friend, from Leicestershire, took charge of the Swans on three occasions last season – and they lost all three games.

He refereed the 5-0 thrashing at Liverpool on Boxing Day last year, the FA Cup defeat to Tottenham and the 1-0 loss at Bournemouth on the penultimate weekend of 2017-18.

Friend has been in charge of a host of Swans games stretching back to a fourth-tier win at Cambridge back in 2004, with the 2013 Capital One Cup final and the 3-2 win at Anfield in January 2017 among them.

He was due to take charge of the Swans' game at Stoke last week only for a late change which saw Paul Tierney handed the whistle at the bet365 Stadium.

Friend will be assisted this weekend by Marc Perry and Adrian Holmes, while James Linington will be the fourth official.