How Many VAR Mistakes Have Gone For and Against Every Premier League Club (2024/25)

After a 2023/24 season marked by numerous refereeing controversies, and as has been the case since its introduction, most of them linked to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), the Premier League’s governing bodies wanted to improve their tools to make them as efficient as possible.

From the introduction of the “Referee’s Call”, which gives more weight to the decisions of the match’s central referee, to the use of the Premier League Match Centre on social networks to justify a decision to Internet users, to the forthcoming arrival of semi-automated offside, various means have been put in place to try and reduce the number of controversies.

However, as Howard Webb, Director General of Refereeing, reminded us, no tool today can provide a truly infallible response to a given situation. In other words, VAR can make mistakes. But which clubs benefit most from these? Thanks to a study from ESPN, GIVEMESPORT is now in a position to answer this cardinal question.

What VAR reviews

• Goal/No goal
• Penalty/No penalty
• Direct red card (not second yellow card)
• Mistaken identity (when the wrong player is booked by the referee)

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Newcastle United Biggest Beneficiaries

The Magpies have enjoyed a VAR review on five occasions

No team in the Premier League has seen VAR work so well for them as it has for Newcastle so far this season. As early as the 25th of August, against Bournemouth, it allowed the Magpies to come away from the Vitality Stadium with a point, cancelling out Dango Ouattara’s late goal for a handball.

A little over a month later, Eddie Howe’s men took advantage again, this time twice. Abdoulaye Doucoure was denied for offside, while James Tarkowski’s foul on Sandro Tonali resulted in a penalty for the Toon Army (Anthony Gordon’s effort was later saved by Jordan Pickford).

More recently, their 2-1 defeat at Chelsea was made less bitter thanks to further positive VAR checks – on the cancellation of a Cole Palmer goal and a potential late penalty.

Liverpool Among Top Teams Subject to VAR

But the Reds still have no scandal to deplore

If Liverpool want to return to the top of the Premier League, they will inevitably need a little help from fate. The Reds are currently one of the teams most penalised by VAR so far this season. With a differential of -2, Arne Slot’s men are at the bottom of the table alongside Bournemouth and Wolves. However, one team that is hot on the heels of all three is Ipswich Town, whose net score of -3 makes them the worst performers in the promotion campaign.

It has to be said that VAR has already caused them problems on three occasions, more than any other team apart from Everton and Bournemouth, who have also been penalised three times each. However, when you look at the analysis of the situations judged by VAR, you realise that none of them has caused them the slightest harm. Whenever VAR was used, the Anfield side found the necessary resources to beat their opponents – Manchester United, Bournemouth and Chelsea.

A Title Contender Still Out of Reach of VAR

A relegation candidate is also spared

Of the 20 teams involved in the 2024/25 Premier League season, so far, none of them have been spared (in the sense that they have all had to deal with VAR). Among them are Arsenal, who are in the Champions League this season and are aiming to finally win the title at the end of the season. Ranked 3rd, this could well make their task easier.

But other clubs also have a net score of 0 when it comes to VAR. These include Leicester, who dominated the Championship last season and are now hoping to stabilise themselves in world football’s elite. Despite being involved in no fewer than four contentious situations, the Foxes are doing rather well.

Other teams with similar fortunes include Chelsea, West Ham and Nottingham Forest, both of whom have had to deal with technological refereeing on several occasions since the start of the 2024/25 season.

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