Newcastle United have been on the receiving end of one major VAR blunder this season as they had a goal ruled out against Crystal Palace for an alleged foul. But they have benefited from the use of VAR in their very next game having been awarded a penalty against Bournemouth which was scored by Alexander Isak to rescue a 1-1 draw.
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.
But the consistency of the system’s application and the decisions to come from it has made supporters up and down the country frustrated.
And a Premier League panel review found a total of six VAR interventions during the first part of the 2022-23 campaign were indeed incorrect. That includes United’s disallowed goal against Crystal Palace.
The other five include Palace having a penalty awarded in a 3-1 win over Aston Villa back in August, West Ham having an equaliser ruled out for a foul against Chelsea, Arsenal having a goal disallowed for a foul against Manchester United, Villa’s Douglas Luiz being shown a red card at Fulham and Brentford being awarded a penalty at Nottingham Forest.
All six decisions had game-changing consequences yet the correct call would have been made had VAR not been in place.
So what if VAR wasn’t in place this season? How would the table look? Using data from Sun Sport and 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
