Arsenal and Newcastle missed penalties, which were decided after the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) Committee made the ruling based on several recent refereeing and VAR decisions.
Arsenal and Kai Havertz denied penalty in recent game against Everton
The Premier League’s Major Match Incidents (KMI) Committee cited four more officiating errors in its latest report, naming Arsenal and Newcastle as the teams negatively affected.
This season there has been an increase in errors by referees on the pitch and those operating VAR, with the number of errors reaching 54 in the latest review. At this point last season, there were 44 errors or errors in VAR intervention or on-field errors that did not meet the criteria for video review.
BBC Sport has confirmed that for the match between March 14 and 16, the KMI panel ruled that VAR was correct in not intervening after the fact, but that three penalties should have been awarded.
One of these came against Arsenal and Everton, when Michael Keane went unpunished despite committing a foul on Kai Havertz inside the area. The other was against Chelsea, when Reece James pulled away from Newcastle’s Malik Thiau.
Although it was cited as an error, in the end neither team paid the price, with Arsenal and Newcastle both claiming three points. Brentford were also the team to miss a penalty, with Kevin Shade held down by Wolves’ Andre, who ultimately escaped the attack.
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The Bees tied the game, surrendering a two-goal lead. The fourth mistake of the period came in a goalless draw at Selhurst Park, when Leeds’ Gabriel Gudamundsson was given an erroneous second yellow card against Crystal Palace. This attack could not be reviewed by VAR, but this will change from next season.
These numbers paint a complicated picture for officials. There have already been as many VAR errors this season (18) as there were in the entirety of last season. However, with a quarter of the season still left, this number is much lower than the 2022-23 season (38 games) and 2023-34 season (31 games) combined.
Leeds defender Gabriel Gutmundsson has been sent off at Crystal Palace.
VAR continues to be highly divisive, with many experts believing that standards of officiating have declined as a result of referees knowing they have a safety blanket in place should they make the wrong call. Each season there are more VAR intervention errors (15), on-field errors (25) and incorrect decisions for a second yellow card (11).
In the draw between Manchester United and Bournemouth, the referee awarded three penalties, but KMI has yet to make a ruling. Two were given and one was not, with Alan Shearer later saying on BBC Radio 5 Live: “They (umpires) are relying on it too much and it’s affecting the standard of refereeing now. It’s not looking good.”
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