Premier League table without VAR emerges as Liverpool benefit and Man Utd suffer

Premier League matches used Video Assistant Referees (VAR) for a third consecutive campaign during the 2021/22 season.

The highly-talked about video technology is used to oversee big decisions in top-flight matches with goals, red cards, penalties and offsides the main areas of matches that are looked at using the technology.

Data from ESPN shows that 120 incidents during the 2021/22 season were directly affected by the use of VAR, averaging at 0.32 per game. From those decisions, 47 led to goals being given, while another 43 led to goals being disallowed. There were also 38 penalties awarded, 15 of which were because of handball.

In ESPN’s lengthy report, they have broken down every decision that went to VAR in the 2021/22 season and developed a scoring system, with each team gaining or losing a point for each VAR decision that has either gone in a team’s favour or against them.

Liverpool and West Ham United finished top of ESPN’s classification with a net total of four decisions going in both club’s favour. They were the two highest-scoring teams in their rankings, with Arsenal, Brentford, Manchester City, Watford and Southampton were the next highest on +3.

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace were the only teams to finish with a level score of zero, while eight teams finished the season with a negative net score on VAR decisions.

Relegated duo Burnley and Norwich were two of the three teams to benefit least from VAR. The Clarets, Canaries and Leicester City all finished joint-last with a score of -6.

The next side to benefit least from VAR was Everton, who narrowly escaped the drop with their penultimate game of the season, ending with a net VAR score of -3.

Leeds United, Newcastle United (both -1), Manchester