Video Assistant Referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made, and are they correct?
After each weekend we take a look at the major incidents, to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.
– How VAR decisions have affected every Prem club in 2023-24
– VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide
In this week’s VAR Review: Was referee Michael Oliver correct to reject the VAR’s advice and award Arsenal‘s winner against Everton? Plus, why Wolverhampton Wanderers‘ Nélson Semedo saw red against Liverpool.
Possible handball: Jesus before Havertz goal
What happened: Arsenal thought they had won the game in the 89th minute. Gabriel Jesus collected the ball halfway inside the Everton half, and fed a pass to Martin Ødegaard. The Norway international scuffed a shot and the ball ran to Kai Havertz, who scored from close range. However, the VAR, Stuart Attwell, directed referee Michael Oliver to the screen to disallow the goal for handball in the buildup by Jesus.
VAR decision: Goal stands, overturn rejected at the monitor.
VAR review: It was only the second time this season a referee has stuck by their original decision and, like the first occasion, the Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel may rule it was incorrect to do so.
The first example came in September, when referee Darren England rejected the advice of VAR Robert Jones that a stoppage-time penalty awarded to Aston Villa against Crystal Palace should be overturned. The panel voted 4-1 that the VAR’s intervention was correct.
Accidental attacking handball only applies to the goal scorer, so it has to be a deliberate act for Havertz’s goal to be ruled out. It’s all about how Jesus moves his body to control the ball: if you think the touch on the arm was accidental it’s a fair goal; if you believe the striker has turned his arm into it to move it forward into his path then it’s deliberate. Oliver thought it was the former; Attwell the latter.
