A panel that evaluated all VAR incidents in the Premier League last season determined that Ipswich Town benefited from errors committed by officials using the technology.
The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel (KMI) consists of three former coaches and/or players, one Premier League representative, and one from the refereeing body Professional Game Match Officials Limited. They vote on major incidents during the campaign.
According to the KMI panel, just 18 VAR errors occurred in the 2024/25 Premier League season, compared to 31 in 2023/24. Two of those 18 errors occurred in games involving Ipswich, and both were ruled in favour of the Blues.
The tribunal determined that Brighton should have been awarded a penalty at Portman Road in December after Wes Burns obstructed Jan Paul van Hecke in the box. The game was scoreless at this point, but the Seagulls went on to win 2-0.
They also claim that Brentford should have been awarded a penalty kick in May when Axel Tuanzebe hauled Nathan Collins to the ground as a corner was delivered into the box. The Bees were leading 1-0 at the time and went on to win the game by that score. It is surprising that the panel has not highlighted Ipswich’s failure to receive a penalty for Abdul Fatawu’s obvious shove on Conor Chaplin in a home game against Leicester in November.
Town went on to have Kalvin Phillips sent off and were pegged back to 1-1 in a key match, with chairman Mark Ashton furious about the ‘injustice’ and seeking a meeting with referee chief Howard Webb. ESPN conducted their own review of VAR overturning decisions at the end of the season (thus non-use of VAR, such as in the Leicester game, and penalty appeals that remained with the on-field referee are excluded). Their statistics for Ipswich are listed below.
Ipswich will return to the Championship in 2025/26, although they will not have to cope with VAR next season. In May, Town manager Kieran McKenna said:
“I believe that in its current form, it takes away more than it gives. The game pauses for two, three, or four minutes to examine marginal calls that cannot be described as ‘clear and obvious’. It detracts from the game’s status as a spectator sport.”
VAR overturns: 11
Leading to goals for: 1
Disallowing goals for: 0
Leading to goals against: 5
Disallowed goals against: 2
Net goal score: -2
Subjective decisions for: 1
Subjective decisions against: 4
Net subjective score: -3
Penalties for/against: 0/4
Red cards for/against: 0/1
Game: Manchester City (A; August 24). Incident: A penalty was awarded (scored by Erling Haaland) for a foul by Leif Davis on Savinho, 9 minutes – AGAINST Game: Everton (Home; October 19) Incident: Penalty rescinded, no foul by Dwight McNeil on Jack Clarke at 26 minutes – AGAINST Brentford (A, October 26) Incident: Penalty granted (scored by Bryan Mbeumo) as Harry Clarke’s foul on Keane Lewis-Potter was deemed to be within the area, 49 minutes – AGAINST Tottenham (A, November 10) Incident: Dominic Solanke’s goal was disallowed for handball after 49 minutes. Game: Newcastle (Home; December 21) Incident: Alexander Isak goal permitted due to improper offside against Jacob Murphy, 1 minute – AGAINST Game: Chelsea (Home; December 30) Incident: João Félix goal disallowed for offside after 24 minutes -FOR.Game: Fulham (A, January 5) Raúl Jiménez scored a penalty for a foul on Harry Wilson by Sam Morsy in the 65th minute against the opponent. Game: Manchester United (A; February 26). Incident: Patrick Dorgu sent off for serious foul play challenge on Omari Hutchinson at 43 minutes – FOR Match: Bournemouth (A; April 2) Incident: Penalty cancelled; foul by Axel Tuanzebe on Antoine Semenyo outside the area, 62 minutes, FOR Chelsea (A, April 13) Incident:
Ben Johnson goal permitted due to improper offside against Julio Enciso, 31 minutes – FOR Newcastle (A, April 26) Incident: Penalty granted (scored by Alexander Isak) for a foul committed by Julio Enciso on Jacob Murphy, 45+1 minutes – on
