The Premier League season 2024-25 is over, and VAR was again a big topic. VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee—it’s supposed to help referees make better decisions. But sometimes, VAR can also make mistakes.
This season, there were only 18 big VAR mistakes recorded. But even a few mistakes can make a big difference. Let’s look at who got lucky and who felt unlucky with these VAR errors.
What kinds of mistakes happened?
Some mistakes were about serious fouls:
- Christian Nørgaard from Brentford and Evanilson from Bournemouth got red cards from VAR, but both were later cancelled because they weren’t actually fouls.
- Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes were sent off wrongly, and VAR didn’t correct the referee’s mistake.
- Everton’s James Tarkowski should have been sent off for a really bad tackle against Liverpool, but VAR didn’t catch it.
As per @DaleJohnsonESPN, 31 VAR mistakes were made this season. Liverpool were the largest net sufferers.
Interestingly, Jeremy Doku’s high kick on Alexis Mac Allister during Liverpool’s 1-1 draw vs. Manchester City not drawing a LIV penalty has NOT been included as a mistake. pic.twitter.com/lkMmqpOYp1
— Anfield Sector (@AnfieldSector) May 24, 2024
Who decides if VAR made a mistake?
There’s a special group called the KMI panel. It has five members: three former players or coaches, one person from the Premier League, and one from the referee organization (PGMOL). They vote after each game to decide if VAR made the right or wrong decision.
Which teams got lucky or unlucky?
Here’s a simple table showing who gained and who suffered from VAR mistakes:
| Club | Errors For | Errors Against | Net Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everton | 3 | 0 | +3 |
| Brighton | 3 | 1 | +2 |
| Ipswich | 2 | 0 | +2 |
| Liverpool | 2 | 1 | +1 |
| Newcastle | 1 | 0 | +1 |
| Southampton | 1 | 0 | +1 |
| Tottenham | 1 | 0 | +1 |
| Chelsea | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leicester | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Man City | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nottingham Forest | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Wolves | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Arsenal | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Aston Villa | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Crystal Palace | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Fulham | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Man United | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| West Ham | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Bournemouth | 0 | 2 | -2 |
| Brentford | 0 | 3 | -3 |
- Everton and Brighton got lucky with VAR mistakes. They benefited the most.
- Brentford and Bournemouth were the unluckiest. Brentford had the most errors against them, and Bournemouth had important mistakes at bad moments, costing them valuable points.
Notable unlucky moments:
- Bournemouth lost a last-minute winning goal against Newcastle because of a VAR mistake.
- Manchester United lost a match against West Ham because VAR wrongly gave West Ham a penalty.
Even though VAR mistakes happened, the number of mistakes was quite low, so maybe VAR is slowly improving. But every mistake can still feel pretty big if it goes against your team!
