New report reveals the four major VAR errors in Premier League this season and none of them include Arsenal
An official report has confirmed the four major errors made by VAR in the Premier League this season.
Last month, Arsenal's exciting 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League was overshadowed by the controversial red card shown to young defender Myles Lewis-Skelly shortly before half-time.
The decision led to outrage online and was later overturned following an appeal from Arsenal but, despite the significant backlash, it is not one of the confirmed errors made by VAR this season.
Instead, a new report from the Premier League Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel has confirmed that there have been just four significant VAR mistakes this season, and none of them impact Arsenal.
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In total there has been 70 VAR interventions across 239 league games this season, an average of around one every three matches.
On four occasions, VAR made a massive mistake by intervening in a moment incorrectly, with some of them having a huge impact on a club's season.
The first error came in just the second match week of the season during Bournemouth's 1-1 draw with Newcastle United at the Vitality Stadium.
In the dying moments of the match, Cherries substitute Dango Ouattara thought he had secured the winning goal but it was wrongly disallowed for handball.
The next, and perhaps most consequential error, came as West Ham United were incorrectly awarded a penalty in 92nd minute of their match against Manchester United.
VAR official Michael Oliver advised referee David Coote to review Matthijs de Ligt’s contact with Danny Ings and the penalty was given and scored by Jarrod Bowen, leading to the match finishing 2-1.
Not only did the match cost United three points, but it cost Erik ten Hag his job, as the Dutch manager was sacked the next day.
A month later, Brentford's Christian Norgaard should not have been shown a red card for a foul against Jordan Pickford during the 0-0 draw with Everton.
Finally, Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic should not have seen his goal ruled out due to an subjective offside during the 3-2 win over Southampton.
Despite admitting the errors, chief football officer Tony Scholes said claimed that England still boasts the best football officials in the world.
He said: “One of our main targets is to have the best match officials in the world — and we do.
"We have ten officials on the Fifa list and two of them — Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor — are in the top ten in the world according to Fifa.
“Other leagues around the world look up to the officials and VAR process in this country as a model they would like to follow.
“That’s the message we get from people around the world.”
In total, the four major errors came as VAR incorrectly intervened in match incidents, however, the KMI panel also confessed to there being nine missed interventions across the first 23 rounds of games.
However, unlike the four major errors, the Premier League refused to reveal exactly what the nine missed interventions were, or if Lewis-Skelly's red card was one of them.
Topics: Premier League, VAR, Arsenal, West Ham, Football, Everton, Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Brentford, Man Utd
Ben McCrum