Newcastle’s last-minute defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge yesterday was overshadowed by VAR’s failure to intervene in a couple of game-changing moments.
Goalscorer Kai Havertz could have been shown a red card for elbowing Dan Burn before Newcastle were denied a penalty after a foul on Jacob Murphy in the early-stages of the second-half.
Eddie Howe described the failure to let referee David Coote view the penalty incident again as ‘making a mockery of VAR’, with Alan Shearer branding the decision as ‘pathetic’.
The implementation of VAR has been controversial since its introduction into English football with every team feeling the effects of decisions made by the technology.
Using data provided by ESPN, here we have ranked how many decisions each Premier League side have had overturned against them by VAR this season:
(Note: this list only includes decisions that have been overturned - no ‘wrong’ subjective calls are included)
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13. Arsenal: 4
Arsenal were very much in the contest against Manchester City on New Year’s Day before VAR awarded Manchester City a penalty after a foul by Granit Xhaka. Photo: Stuart MacFarlane
14. Leicester City: 5
The Foxes saw VAR overturn a handball decision against Caglar Soyuncu against Arsenal yesterday - Alexandre Lacazette converted the spot-kick. Photo: Alex Pantling
15. Brentford: 5
Josh Dasilva was shown a red-card early in the clash with Newcastle last month, despite Mike Dean initially giving the Bees a free-kick for the incident. Photo: Marc Atkins
16. Manchester United: 6
Manchester United’s 5-0 defeat to Liverpool at Old Trafford in October was compounded by having Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal ruled out by VAR before Paul Pogba’s yellow card was upgraded to a red just moments later. Photo: Michael Regan