Everton have finished bottom of two VAR Premier League tables this season while recording an unwanted first
The big screen at Hill Dickinson Stadium shows an Everton goal against Tottenham Hotspur has been ruled out by VAR
The big screen at Hill Dickinson Stadium shows an Everton goal against Tottenham Hotspur has been ruled out by VAR(Image: PETER POWELL/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Badge check complete... no penalty.”
Analysis in an article published by BBC Sport for the 2025/26 Premier League campaign shows that Everton are the fall guys as the first club in seven seasons of VAR not to get an overturn in their favour.
Unsurprisingly, then, with no decisions going their way, when it came to VAR interventions, the Blues also finished bottom of the net VAR interventions table (calculated by taking the total number of VAR interventions in a club’s favour and then subtracting those that have gone against them) with a net score of minus five. Also, the key match incidents panel ruled that Everton should have been given VAR penalties at home to Arsenal and Manchester City, plus away to West Ham United.
Half the division finished with minus scores and behind Everton on –5 there was Brighton & Hove Albion on –4; Tottenham Hotspur on –3; Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Burnley, Liverpool, Sunderland and West Ham United all on –2 with Fulham on –1. Both Brentford and Manchester City finished level, while eight clubs had positive scores, Leeds United +1; Arsenal +2; Crystal Palace, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers all on +3, while Manchester United were +4 and Chelsea finished top on +6.
The Blues also finished joint bottom of the VAR goals affected table as one of four clubs with a net score of –4. Three Everton goals that were initially given were then disallowed by VAR, with one opposition goal that was initially disallowed then given after a VAR check.
The two other clubs on –4 were south coast pair Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion while others with minus scores were Burnley (-3); Manchester City and West Ham United (-2); plus Fulham, Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers (-1). Aston Villa, Brentford, Leeds United, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur all finished level while Manchester United had +2; Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United had +3; Nottingham Forest were +4 and Chelsea topped the table again on +7, a full three goals above their closest challengers.
As Michael Ball remarked in his ECHO column after Everton were not given a penalty against another of his former clubs Manchester City at Hill Dickinson Stadium on May 4 when Merlin Rohl was dragged to the floor by Bernardo Silva, with VAR deciding the holding had stopped before a corner was taken, but the Premier League’s key match incidents panel ruled that to be incorrect: “People might point to it being the third consecutive game that Everton have conceded in stoppage time, but it seems obvious to me that our games are being refereed in a different way to the manner being adopted for other teams in the Premier League.
“If referees had done the right things and made what both I and many Evertonians believe to be the correct decisions over the last three matches then we would have picked up more points and could have been sitting pretty in the race for Europe, rather than playing catch-up in the race.”
Indeed, if the Blues had been awarded a spot-kick against Pep Guardiola’s side then they could have restored their two-goal lead in the latter stages of the match and not thrown away victory in the dying seconds. In turn, such a morale-boosting win could have altered the entire feeling around the club, their hopes for Europe and fan sentiment right now over both the manager David Moyes and his players.
It will probably come as no surprise to Evertonians to see that their club is also third from bottom on the ‘All-time VAR table’ when calculating decisions for clubs who have been in the Premier League for every season since the technology was first brought in at the start of 2019/20. That list is as follows: Newcastle United +15; Crystal Palace +8; Brighton & Hove Albion +7; Aston Villa +6; Manchester City +6; Manchester United +6; Chelsea +3; Liverpool +1; Tottenham Hotspur -4; West Ham United -4; Everton -5; Arsenal -10; Wolverhampton Wanderers -15.