Three Additional VAR...

The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel has confirmed three additional errors by the video assistant referee, bringing the total for the season to 23.

The panel identified three mistakes involving penalties, with two instances where penalties should have been awarded for holding offenses.

Everton, who have yet to receive a VAR intervention in their favor this season, were unjustly denied a penalty against Manchester City.

At Goodison Park, with Everton leading 3-2, a corner situation unfolded where Bernardo Silva held back Toffees midfielder Merlin Rohl, an incident that referee Michael Oliver missed.

VAR official Paul Howard ruled that the holding occurred before the corner was taken, thus he could not intervene to award a penalty.

“If that isn’t given, it opens the door for everything,” Moyes remarked post-match.

The five-member KMI panel concurred with Moyes, stating, “there is a clear, sustained holding offense that continues as the corner is taken and the ball is in play.”

City equalized in the dying moments of the match via Jeremy Doku, resulting in a 3-3 draw.

This marks the third instance this season where Everton should have been awarded a penalty after video review, previously against Arsenal in a 1-0 home defeat and during a 2-1 loss to West Ham.

The panel unanimously deemed that Bournemouth should not have been awarded a penalty during their 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace. They criticized Marcos Senesi for going down after minimal contact with goalkeeper Dean Henderson, indicating the referee Rob Jones should have reversed his initial decision.

“Henderson dropped the ball and reached for it, leading to Senesi going down under very minimal contact,” the panel explained.

West Ham Denied Two Penalties Against Brentford

West Ham should have been awarded two penalties in their 3-0 loss at Brentford, although one was not regarded as reaching the VAR threshold for review.

Keane Lewis-Potter held Tomas Soucek in a “clear non-footballing action that affected the West Ham player’s movement,” prompting the panel to unanimously conclude that VAR Tony Harrington should have intervened.

Additionally, in the 77th minute, it was believed that referee Craig Pawson should have awarded a penalty when Yehor Yarmolyuk slipped and took down Pablo inside the box.

This was a split decision, 3-2 in favor of a penalty, while the VAR review received a 4-1 vote against.

The total of 23 errors marks an increase from last season’s 17 errors at the same point in the 2024-25 campaign but is fewer than the 30 mistakes recorded after 35 games in the 2023-24 season.

In other evaluations, the panel voted 4-1 that VAR was correct in not intervening regarding a potential handball by Benjamin Sesko during a match against Manchester United. The panel determined “there was no conclusive evidence of a handball.”

The VAR red card for Sunderland‘s Dan Ballard for pulling the hair of Tolu Arokodare was also backed with a 4-1 vote.