Newcastle United have been on the receiving end of a couple of major VAR blunders this season as they had a goals ruled out against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. But they have also benefited from the use of VAR having been awarded a penalty against Bournemouth which was scored by Alexander Isak to rescue a 1-1 draw back in September.
Eddie Howe’s side have also been helped by VAR against Manchester City with the awarding of a Miguel Almiron goal and the overturn of a Kieran Trippier red card. Their match at Wolverhampton Wanderers also saw a second goal for the hosts disallowed for a foul in the build-up.
Newcastle also benefitted at Fulham with Nathaniel Chalobah’s yellow card upgraded to a red following a VAR check. Brentford also had an early goal ruled out for offside at St James’s Park following a check after it was initially given.
Recently VAR hasn’t been in Newcastle’s favour as it awarded a penalty to Fulham at St James’ Park back in January though fortunately luck would be on their side as Aleksandar Mitrovic slipped and the goal was ruled out. Joe Willock also had an early goal ruled out against West Ham United last month.
And perhaps most controversially since that disallowed goal against Palace, Newcastle saw Elliot Anderson denied his first goal for the club following a controversial offside intervention by VAR after the goal was initially given.
The same gameweek also saw Leeds United benefit from a VAR decision as Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Jonny was sent off in a 4-2 win for The Whites at Molineux. The same game also saw the rare instance of a rejected VAR overturn as the referee stuck with his original decision to allow Leeds’ fourth goal.
The consistency of the system’s application and the decisions to come from it has made supporters up and down the country frustrated.
VAR decisions can often have game changing consequences. So what if VAR wasn’t in place this season?
Obviously plenty of decisions remain subjective and referees may refrain from making a decision due to VAR being in place before coming to a decision they would have made anyway.
There is also the matter of red cards which undoubtedly impact matches but have no direct bearing on the score so it is difficult to quantify the number of points VAR sendings off have cost sides.
So how would the table potentially look? Using photos from key VAR incidents so far this season, we’ve put together a Premier League table based on how things would look if the referee’s decision was final without any VAR interference.
3. Newcastle United - 71 points (same position)
Same points without VAR. Photo: Stu Forster
