Man City not top of Premier League in table without VAR decisions this season

VAR is very much the talk of the town following Liverpool’s controversial defeat to Tottenham at the weekend, so we thought we’d briefly imagine what life would be like without the technology

Plenty of football fans have been lusting for a world without VAR since the Luis Diaz debacle – so let’s run with that idea for a little bit, shall we?

Daily Star Sport has mocked up a version of the Premier League table without VAR decisions, and it looks a lot different to the real one. First up, Manchester City would be knocked off top spot by Tottenham, who benefitted from the VAR horror show on Saturday.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have been arguably the story of the season so far after winning five of their seven league matches, but it would’ve been six without technology. They conceded a penalty, which was later converted by Bryan Mbuemo, during their 2-2 with Brentford, though it was awarded following a VAR review.

Chelsea and Manchester United, who have both made disappointing starts to the season, don’t have VAR to blame as their positions in the table and points tallies would be unchanged. They are two of 14 teams in the league whose points wouldn’t be altered by removing VAR decisions, which suggests the tech doesn’t quite have the impact some seem to think it does (check out the full table below).

Faith in VAR, and officiating in general, is arguably at an all-time low in the Premier League after a miscommunication saw Diaz’s perfectly legitimate goal against Spurs wrongly ruled out. The Colombian was flagged offside by the linesman before putting the ball in the net, but VAR officials mistakenly thought the goal had been given, so after reviewing the incident they informed the referee that the call was ‘correct’.