⚽ This Week’s VAR Drama
Right, let’s talk about the absolute madness that went down at the Etihad on Sunday. Because if you weren’t fuming after watching Manchester City get away with daylight robbery against Crystal Palace, you weren’t paying attention.
The EPL VAR nonsense has reached new heights this week, and honestly, I’m struggling to understand how anyone at Stockley Park still has a job. We’ve had penalties not given, offsides called on players standing in different postcodes, and decisions so baffling they’d make your nan question her eyesight.
Eighth minute disaster as Ruben Dias clearly hauls down Mateta in the box, ref waves it off, VAR takes a look and somehow agrees it’s not a penalty. Palace go on to lose 3-0 in a game that should’ve been completely different. Absolute joke of a decision.
City benefited again earlier in the week when a potential red card for Rodri was downgraded to yellow after a studs-up challenge on Onana. Everton fought back from 2-0 down to draw 3-3, but that decision could’ve changed everything. Premier League VAR consistency strikes again.
Palace getting done again this week, this time at the Emirates where a Gabriel handball shout was ignored in the buildup to Arsenal’s winner. Two massive decisions going against Palace in the same week, costing them potentially four points in their relegation battle.
Forest had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside in the first half when it was still 0-0, and Sunderland proceeded to absolutely demolish them 5-0. The offside line looked dodgy at best, and it completely killed any momentum Forest had. Brutal.
⚽ Decision Analysis: The Etihad Robbery
Let’s break down what actually happened at the Etihad because this is genuinely one of the worst VAR decisions I’ve seen all season. Eight minutes in, Jean-Philippe Mateta is running onto a through ball, Ruben Dias is panicking because he’s been caught out, and he absolutely cleans out the Palace striker with both arms wrapped around him.
Penalty all day long. Every single person in that stadium knew it was a pen except apparently the referee and the VAR officials. The ref initially waves play on, which is bad enough, but then VAR has a look and decides there’s not enough to overturn it. Not enough? The man was basically giving Mateta a cuddle!
Here’s what drives me mental about this whole situation: City went on to score three goals and win comfortably, but at 0-0 with a penalty, Palace could’ve changed the entire trajectory of that match. They’re fighting for survival down there, and these points matter. City are chasing European spots, sure, but Palace need every single point they can get.
The commentary team was baffled, the pundits were baffled, even Gary Neville said it was a “clear penalty” and he never gives City grief. When you’ve got universal agreement that VAR got it wrong, something is fundamentally broken with the system. We brought in technology to fix these mistakes, not create new ones.
And it’s not just this one decision either. Palace got done twice this week with questionable calls going against them. That Gabriel handball shout against Arsenal looked dodgy too, with the ball clearly striking his arm in the buildup to Arsenal’s winner. Two games, two massive decisions, zero points for Palace when they could’ve had at least one, maybe three.
The Everton-City draw earlier in the week had its own drama with that Rodri challenge that probably should’ve been red. City eventually drew 3-3 after leading 2-0, but Everton could’ve been playing against ten men for most of the match. That’s the difference between scrapping for a point and potentially taking all three.
⚽ Fan Mood Check
Two games, two shocking VAR decisions, zero points to show for it when they desperately needed something from both matches in their relegation scrap.
They’ll take the three points and move on quickly, knowing they got away with one, but not exactly celebrating VAR’s generosity publicly.
Battled back from 2-0 down to draw with City despite the Rodri decision going against them, absolutely buzzing with that fight but wondering what if.
Marginal offside killed their momentum completely and they shipped five goals to Sunderland, turning what could’ve been a competitive match into an absolute nightmare.
⚽ Hot Issues
Manchester City getting favorable decisions in back-to-back games raises the question everyone’s thinking but nobody wants to say out loud: do the big clubs get preferential treatment from VAR? Palace and Everton both left feeling hard done by.
Crystal Palace dropped six potential points this week partly due to VAR controversies, which could be the difference between staying up and going down. When survival is on the line, these decisions aren’t just frustrating, they’re potentially devastating to clubs, communities, and livelihoods.
The consistency issue with Premier League VAR has been a problem all season, but this week felt particularly egregious. How can the same officials watch replays of similar incidents and come to wildly different conclusions? That Dias tackle on Mateta is a penalty in every other game, but somehow not at the Etihad when City are the home team.
And look, I’m not saying there’s some grand conspiracy here, but the optics are terrible. When the same team benefits from multiple questionable decisions in the same week while smaller clubs fighting relegation get shafted, people are going to talk. The integrity of the competition depends on fans believing everyone gets treated fairly.
What genuinely frustrates me is that we’ve had these VAR conversations for years now and nothing changes. The officials refuse to speak publicly about their decisions, there’s zero accountability, and mistakes just keep happening week after week. At what point do we admit the current system isn’t working?
Palace manager Roy Hodgson was diplomatic in his post-match comments, but you could see the frustration written all over his face. He’s been in football long enough to know when his team’s been done over, and that’s exactly what happened twice this week. The players gave everything and got nothing to show for it because VAR couldn’t make the obvious call.
Crystal Palace getting robbed twice in one week by VAR while fighting relegation is absolutely criminal, and if City somehow needed help beating Palace 3-0, we’ve got bigger problems than dodgy officiating. Someone needs to explain how that Dias tackle wasn’t a penalty because I’ve watched it fifty times and I’m still baffled.