The most contentious VAR decisions made in the Premier League so far this season

As is quickly becoming the norm after a round of Premier League fixtures, we have seen yet more VAR controversy. The new technology continues to be one of the main talking points relating to top-flight football every week and that was no different after Man City’s 2-1 win over Everton on New Year’s Day. In a series of strange events, the linesman flagged Riyhad Mahrez offside, even though it was a very close decision that he should have let go. Mahrez then controlled the ball, possibly with his arm, before going into the penalty area where it looked like he was fouled by Lucas Digne. VAR correctly identified that Mahrez was onside and then checked for the possible handball. It did look like a handball on the replay but, for some reason, the VAR went on to check for the penalty before going back and awarding the handball, which made absolutely no sense and left observers scratching their heads. To add even more confusion, VAR is not allowed to check every offside decision, it can only check them when they lead directly to goals or penalties. Therefore play actually resumed with an Everton free-Kock from the point of the original, incorrect offside decision. In ‘honour’ of another VAR-centric incident in the Premier League, we have decided to take a look back at some of VAR’s most controversial moments of the season so far…