Incident-by-incident: Was it a bad weekend for VAR?

What the report says

BBC Sport Football reported that a weekend packed with Premier League and related VAR controversy could leave the video review system with several new errors on the books. The piece said the league’s Key Match Incidents panel had recorded only two VAR mistakes after eight rounds, but that figure may rise after a series of disputed calls across multiple matches.

Among the incidents examined were Manchester United’s late equaliser against Aston Villa, Arsenal’s penalty claim against Hull, a possible red card in Leeds against Tottenham, several contentious moments in Everton’s win over Coventry, a VAR dismissal for Brentford striker Igor Thiago at Brighton, and other checks involving Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Fulham. The article used the panel’s likely judgment to assess which decisions were correct and which may have been officiating errors.

BBC Sport said the strongest candidates for mistakes were Arsenal not being awarded a penalty and Coventry’s denied spot-kick against Everton, while a few other decisions could still split opinion. Most of the remaining calls were presented as likely to be upheld. The broader point was that, despite a relatively clean start to the season for VAR, this round of matches may be remembered as one of the more difficult weekends for the system.