The Premier League Match Centre team provides further information and context on the key operational and officiating themes from recent Match Rounds.
What options does the referee have during an on-field review?
During Premier League matches, when in the opinion of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) based on evidence readily available, the referee’s call on a subjective decision is a clear and obvious error, they will recommend an on-field review at the pitch side monitor - for all factual decisions, such as the ball being out of play and handball by the goal scorer, a review at the monitor is not required.
In Chelsea’s match with AFC Bournemouth in Match Round 21, the VAR advised referee Rob Jones that he had potentially missed a violent conduct offence following an off the ball incident between David Brooks and Marc Cucurella.
See: Violent conduct
When reviewing at the pitch side monitor, Jones had to decide whether there was clear evidence that Brooks’ actions were violent conduct and checked to see whether he had struck Cucurella with excessive force/brutality or pulled his hair.
In this instance, Jones deemed there was no conclusive evidence of violent conduct, but that Brooks’ use of his arm was reckless, and therefore issued him a yellow card.
Although the VAR cannot recommend a yellow card, the referee retains all options when they are reviewing an incident at the monitor.
This was compared to an incident between Southampton’s Jack Stephens and Cucurella in Match Round 14.
On that occasion, when the VAR recommended an on-field review for violent conduct, the replays clearly showed Stephens pull at Cucurella’s hair and the Southampton player was subsequently shown a red card.
When is handling the ball an offence?
In Arsenal’s clash with Aston Villa during Match Round 22, a Mikel Merino shot deflected off Kai Havertz and went into the goal.
The on-field decision was goal, but during the VAR check, it was established that the final touch was off Havertz’s right arm, and the goal was disallowed for handball.
IFAB, the game’s lawmakers, clarify that it is an offence for a player to score a goal “directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental”. As there was clear factual evidence that the ball hit Havertz’s arm on its way into the net, the VAR was able to recommend that the goal be disallowed without the need for the referee to review at the pitch side monitor.
During Nottingham Forest’s match with Brighton & Hove Albion in Match Round 24, there were calls for Neco Williams’ goal to be ruled out for a potential handball offence by his teammate, Ibrahim Sangare, in the build-up.
The goal scorer is always penalised for an accidental handball, but the interpretation of the handball law differs if the potential offence is by a teammate prior to the goal being scored, with the officials having to decide whether it was a deliberate action.
See: Handball
In this instance, Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh and Sangare both fell to the floor after challenging for the ball, which subsequently bounced off the arm of Sangare and rolled into the path of Williams, who scored.
The referee deemed that the handball was accidental, with Sangare’s arms in a justifiable position to break his fall and awarded the goal. The replays confirmed the accidental handball and therefore there was no VAR intervention.
What is encroachment?
During Brentford’s match with Crystal Palace in Match Round 23, Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty kick struck the post, and the ball came back into the penalty area before being cleared by Marc Guehi.
VAR checks all penalties and when reviewing this incident, the VAR established that Guehi had encroached on the penalty area and impacted on the ability of an opponent, therefore recommended a retake.
It’s worth noting that in this specific situation, Mbeumo was unable to play the ball again, as he was the penalty taker and the ball had not touched another player since his penalty kick.
The impact was therefore on Vitaly Janelt and Yoane Wissa, with both Brentford players potentially reaching the ball had it not been for Guehi’s clearance.
IFAB clarify that during penalty kicks, all players other than the kicker and goalkeeper must be at least 9.15 m (10 yds) from the penalty mark, behind the penalty mark, inside the field of play and outside the penalty area.
They also explain that a teammate of the goalkeeper is penalised for encroachment if they clearly impact the kicker, or if they play the ball or challenge an opponent for the ball and prevent the opponents from scoring, attempting to score or creating a goal-scoring opportunity.
What happens when the ball is out of play before a goal is scored?
During Newcastle United's match with Bournemouth in Match Round 22, Sandro Tonali attempted a clearance to save his side from facing a corner, but it was intercepted on the edge of the box by Ryan Christie, and during the same attacking possession phase (APP), Antoine Semenyo scored.
As always, the VAR checked the goal, and quickly saw there was factual evidence that the ball was out of play before Tonali’s clearance.
As the VAR deemed this was part of the same APP, they recommended that the goal be disallowed. If the VAR had deemed that this had been a separate possession phase, they would have allowed the goal to stand.
In situations like this which the VAR can check, the VAR needs factual evidence which differs from the on-field decision to intervene.
In a game between Newcastle and Arsenal last season, Joe Willock was judged to have kept the ball in before setting up Anthony Gordon.
The referee’s call of goal was maintained as the VAR couldn’t find conclusive evidence that showed the ball was out of play from the available replays.
On-field and VAR performance
The independent Key Match Incident (KMI) Panel was introduced in Season 2022/23, with the panel members responsible for providing analysis and an independent assessment of both on-field and VAR decisions.
The KMI panel has deemed that the on-field accuracy of officials in the Premier League has improved this season. It is adjudged that 86 per cent of on-field decisions have been correct before the use of VAR during the first 25 match rounds, a 1 per cent increase from the 85 per cent at the same stage of the 2023/24 campaign.
In addition, the KMI Panel has deemed that there have been 13 VAR errors during the first 25 match rounds of the 2024/25 season, a decrease from the 24 errors at the same stage of the 2023/24 campaign.
Lastly, VAR efficiency has also improved in the Premier League this season – the average VAR delay to matches in Season 2024/25 currently stands at 40 seconds per match, a significant reduction on the average delay of 65 seconds per match across the 2023/24 campaign.
