By Tony Attwood
There are times when the statements of players and managers – (or is it the alleged statements of players and managers?) are so blindingly obvious that one can’t actually believe they have been said.
But, sometimes managerial statements are worth noting, as for example when the Bournemouth manager said, “I would like to know where we would be in the standings without VAR.”
And that really is an interesting suggestion because the answer is Bournemouth would be up three places in seventh! Which leads us to ask what about Arsenal? And perhaps more to the point what about Manchester City who seem forever to benefit from VAR while others don’t?
So I’ve been looking and [Squwaka](https://www.squawka.com/en/features/premier-league-var-errors-2024-25/) did actually oblige recently, and the results make it clear: Manchester City are the big VAR beneficiaries and yes Bournemouth do lose out.
So here is how the top our actually looked after 34 games. The new column “Non-VAR” is how many points the club would have had without VAR intervention, and the final column is how the club has benefitted (a + number) or lost out (a – number) because of VAR.
Non-VAR
Diff
1
Liverpool
25
7
2
80
32
82
79
+3
2
Arsenal
18
13
3
63
29
67
71
\-4
3
Newcastle United
19
5
10
65
44
62
62
0
4
Manchester City
18
7
9
66
43
61
59
+2
5
Chelsea
34
17
9
8
59
60
60
0
6
Nottingham Forest
34
18
6
10
53
60
60
0
Without any VAR Arsenal would have four more points than the club has now, and Liverpool would have three fewer. Yes Liverpool would still most likely win the league but after 34 games they wouldn’t have won it yet.
But perhaps the biggest fact to note is that of the top six teams **Arsenal is the only team** that has suffered a decline in points because of VAR.
Put another way, Arsenal are four points worse off because of VAR while Liverpool are three points better off. We should be seven points closer if justice prevailed.
Now when we have one team that is suffering over and over again from revised referee decisions we really should have to stop and ask why is this club being penalised so often. And this is a different question from the one we ask about how many goals of Arsenal are disallowed by referees where VAR is not called upon. And how many dubious free kicks go against Arsenal without VAR being looked at.
Those are questions we asked over and over again in the years when we did detailed referee reviews of matches, and of course the answers were ones no one else wanted to talk about. But now we have factual data that clearly shows, **it is Arsenal that is being done down by VAR** while clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool are benefitting from VAR.
Of course some will come back and say that this is because Arsenal are a cheating team who use all sorts of dubious tactics to gain an advantage, and at last VAR is finding them out. OK that is a possible argument. But if it is to be put that point forward seriously, then we need to see the evidence, and so far I have not seen it. Certainly looking at the disallowed goals we are talking about a millimetre offside and that sort of thing.
And this is where we find VAR is being abused all the time by officials.
The rules say that it is the referee who decides whether a decision needs to go to VAR, but what we see happening all the time – and I mean all the time, especially in Arsenal matches, is that the VAR team tucked away in their box somewhere will recommend a review, and I have only once seen a referee disagree with what the VAR team say he should look at.
Besides, the actual rules say that the VAR couple can only call the referee over to look at the recording if there is “a clear and obvious error” in relation to something like a goal, penalty award, a red card issue or mistaken identity.
But the fact that the VAR team and the referee each spend so long looking at issues of a player’s elbow being offside, and the like, shows this rule is being broken all the time. That we know. But now with the figures about which teams are benefitting from VAR we have the proof. VAR is being used to fix results.
Which leads us to ask, “Why are the media in general not picking up on this?”
The answer undoubtedly is the same as the answer given to the question, why are they not noticing how some referees see twice as many fouls as others, or hand out twice as many yellow cards as others. And that’s not just match by match but also across the whole season?
The answer is simple: they are told not to.