The Premier League has issued a defence of its referees and VARs by claiming that they are making fewer mistakes this season compared to previous years following intense recent criticism of officials.
Last month, Mikel Arteta said he was “absolutely fuming” after Michael Oliver sent off Myles Lewis-Skelly during Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Wolves, a decision that was overturned on appeal. Oliver was subjected to abuse by fans, which Arteta condemned.
However, the Premier League’s chief football officer Tony Scholes insisted that most top-flight clubs recognised “significant progress” has been made to eliminate errors this term.
An independent key match incident panel (KMI) – comprising one representative each from the Premier League and refereeing body PGMOL and three former top-flight players and coaches – deemed that there have been 13 VAR errors this season, down from 20 at the same stage last season and 25 the year before.
According to the KMI panel, only four of the 70 interventions made by VAR have been incorrect. The panel also judged that there have been nine missed interventions – instances where VARs should have got involved but didn’t.
Of the four mistakes, two had a major bearing on the outcome of a match. In August, Bournemouth’s Dango Ouattara was penalised for handball when scoring in the 92nd minute of a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United.
And in November, Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt was adjudged to have fouled West Ham striker Danny Ings with Jarrod Bowen scoring the resulting penalty in the 91st minute to seal a 2-1 win.
The other two errors were less significant: A red card for Brentford captain Christian Norgaard in a 0-0 draw with Everton, and an offside decision against Chris Wood to deny a Nikola Milenkovic goal during Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 win over Southampton.
Scholes reiterated that the Premier League’s “absolute objective” is to further reduce the number of mistakes, acknowledging that they can cost clubs “points and results” and managers their jobs. Erik ten Hag was dismissed a day after United’s defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium.
He also insisted that the Premier League has some of the best officials in the world and is starting to reap the rewards of their Elite Referee Development Plan, which was set up in 2022 with a view to fast-tracking talented referees through the divisions.
Furthermore, the Premier League hopes to introduce semi-automated offside at some point this season after making “significant progress” in their testing of the technology since Christmas.
Last season’s 20 top-flight clubs voted unanimously in favour of implementing it last April and the Premier League had intended for it to be in use by November last year before delaying its start date over concerns about its readiness.
However, they are now confident that they are adopting the “best and most accurate system,” and believe that its implementation will make the decision-making process “more efficient”.
Other major European leagues including Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A already use the technology, while it is also deployed in the Champions League.
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