A real re-shuffle of the Premier League order.
There can be no doubt that VAR — and whether it makes football stronger — is an issue that divides football fans like no other.
As well as occasionally doing its job properly, VAR has the potential to cause chaos, unrest and controversy.
Overall, some teams tend to think they see the worst of it, but supporters of the system often suggest that — over the course of a season— the negatives and positives always even out.
Regardless of whether you think the technology is beneficial or detrimental to the game, there can’t be a single supporter in the country who isn’t curious to see what life would like without it.
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According to the PGMOL Key Match Incidents Panel, there were over a dozen errors that VAR got wrong in the first half of the season alone, although perhaps countless mistakes that they managed to rectify.
From Virgil van Dijk’s header that never was against Man City, to the alleged simulation from Gabriel that ruled out a Spurs equaliser in the north London derby, clubs have had plenty to complain about over the course of this season.
Now, thanks to football stat experts Squawka, every “VAR error” has been tallied, so as to understand which Premier League teams have been worst affected by the technology.
Each week Squawka ask fans to vote on each gameweek’s most controversial VAR calls.
The results of those votes, over 31 gameweeks, are displayed below:
To be clear, these errors haven’t been classifed as such by the Premier League or the PGMOL, but are instead based on the opinions of football fans.
9- Newcastle – 45 (behind Brighton on goal difference)
15- Nottingham Forest – 33
16- West Ham – 33 (below Forest on goal difference)
18- Tottenham Hotspur – 31
A disclaimer on the Squawka website reads: “Note: Our table has been compiled on the basis that penalties that should have been awarded would subsequently have been scored. Since 2016-17, 79.98% of Premier League penalties taken have been scored.”
The most interesting insights relate to London clubs Brentford and Spurs, both of whom would be much worse off without VAR.
The Bees would be well out of the race for Europe, four places lower down in 11th, while Spurs would be within the relegation zone.
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