Video assistant referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made and are they correct?

This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.

Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Arsenal

Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Darren England
Time: 80 minutes
Incident: Possible penalty for handball

What happened: With the ball running out of play for an Arsenal corner, Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina seemingly played the ball with his arm in an attempt to keep the ball in play. Within the same movement, Forest teammate Elliot Anderson was equally keen to keep the ball in play, creating contact in the back of Aina as they both played for the same ball.

VAR decision: The referee’s call of no penalty to Arsenal was checked and confirmed by VAR — with it deemed that the ball was played off Aina’s shoulder first, while his arm was also in a natural position.

VAR review: Referee Michael Oliver was completely unsighted of any potential offense in this situation. Therefore, the judgment as to whether this incident was worthy of an on-field review (OFR) was entirely down to VAR Darren England.

For a VAR intervention in this situation, certainly one with no live communication of the incident from the referee, he would need to have absolute evidence, clear of any mitigating circumstances, that an offense has been committed by the Forest player and missed by the refereeing team.

England looked at the replays many times, finally saying that the ball had deflected off Aina’s shoulder and onto his arm, which he also felt was in a natural position for Aina’s movement at that moment.

Equally, the contact on Aina from Anderson would have added to the level of doubt that a clear error had been made. England’s final decision was to complete the check for no penalty review.

Verdict: Despite the rationale offered for a non-intervention by the VAR, the Forest defender can, in my opinion, feel fortunate that this incident did not go to an on-field review and subsequent penalty award.

I agree that the ball deflected off his shoulder and that the contact from Anderson would have had an impact on Aina’s natural balance. However, neither of these considerations was enough to negate the deliberate secondary movement of his arm to play and ultimately control the ball in an attempt to keep the ball in play.

England clearly felt that there were too many “possibles” and not enough “definites” in this incident and therefore didn’t feel it met the criteria for an obvious error — an outcome that will certainly divide opinion.

Manchester United 2-0 Manchester City

Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Craig Pawson
Time: 10 minutes
Incident: Red card challenge

What happened: Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot was late with a challenge on Jérémy Doku, catching the Manchester City attacker high on the knee. The on-field decision from referee Anthony Taylor was a yellow card, confirmed by VAR Craig Pawson.

VAR decision: The referee’s call of yellow card to Dalot for a reckless challenge was checked and confirmed by VAR — with the contact deemed to be glancing and not with excessive force.

Verdict: Without doubt, this will be a major talking point of this derby match — especially as it was just 10 minutes in, and United went on to win the game.

This was a lazy challenge by Dalot. The contact was unnecessarily late, high and across Doku’s knee, all considerations that would have put Pawson in a difficult position when reviewing the challenge so early in a derby game.

The live communication from Taylor, describing the challenge and subsequent level of contact as reckless as opposed to dangerous — understandable from an on-field perspective — would have been Pawson’s starting point in this review process.

Having watched the replays, Pawson would have felt uncomfortable given the nature of the challenge. However, considering the timing of the incident, he would not have felt that the replays offered enough evidence to recommend an on-field review and would have worked hard to make the pictures concur with the on-field decision of yellow card as opposed to red.

I feel for Pawson and understand his rationale in this situation, but I believe a red card would be expected in this incident. The nature of the challenge was dangerous, completely unnecessary and certainly endangered the safety of his opponent.

CHICAGO — The Los Angeles Rams are headed to the NFC Championship game to play the Seattle Seahawks, despite what head coach Sean McVay called “some bad coaching” by him in Sunday night’s 20-17 win over the Bears.

The Rams offense, a unit which led the league in offensive DVOA during the regular season, struggled to get into a rhythm for much of the game.

“Offensively, man, I did not do a very good job for our group tonight,” McVay said. “But I thought our guys were able to overcome it.”

After scoring a touchdown on their opening possession with a 14-play 85-yard drive, the Rams had just 174 yards at the end of the third quarter. According to ESPN Research, it was their fewest yards at the end of the third quarter in a game this season.

“I did not like the feel for the flow of the game that I had outside of the first series where our guys did a great job,” McVay said. “Defensively, it kept us in it in spite of how poor of a job I did for our group. But like I said, I’m really grateful for this group being able to find a way, stick with it and be able to overcome some bad coaching by me tonight.”

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw for a league-leading 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns during the regular season, completed 20 of 42 passes for 258 yards against the Bears. Stafford failed to throw a touchdown for just the second time in his playoff career, according to ESPN Research. It was the first time Stafford failed to throw multiple passing touchdowns in a playoff start for the Rams.

“I definitely didn’t get into a great rhythm today,” Stafford said. “There’s no question about that. I had some opportunities in the pass game, just some things that made it tough. Obviously I could be better.

“But playoff football is about winning the football game. Played great, threw for a bunch of yards last year in the snow and we lost, so that s— sucks. So I’m happy to have played a little bit worse today and going home with a win. So we’ll take that.”

Stafford had 11 off-target throws on Sunday, tied for his most as a member of the Rams, according to ESPN Research.

But despite the struggles for the offense for most of the night, Stafford led the Rams to his 55th career game-wining drive in the fourth quarter or overtime, which is 11 more than the next-closest player since he entered the NFL in 2009.

The victory for the Rams sent them to the NFC title game for the first time since Los Angeles won Super Bowl LVI during the 2021 season. The Rams will play the No. 1 seed Seahawks, who beat the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 on Saturday night to advance.

“[We’ve] got to be at our best,” McVay said. “You watched that game last night. They’re firing on all cylinders. They look really good and I’m excited to be able to dive into this tape and figure out how we can improve.”

The Rams split the season series in Seattle, winning 21-19 at home in Week 11 and losing 38-37 in overtime in Week 16. The Rams led the Week 16 game 30-14 in the fourth quarter.

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, who had 5 catches for 56 yards on Sunday, said it felt fitting that Los Angeles will go back to Seattle next week for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

“I think there’s no way the football gods would rather have it be than for us to go back up there and see the All Father [Cooper Kupp] and get a chance to right our wrongs,” Nacua said. “So it will be a great challenge for us and we’re excited for it.”