Tragic VAR in England: Arsenal and Brighton picked up points on Saturday, referee boss apologises

Arsenal conceded an unconverted goal and lost two points for a 1-1 draw, Brighton had a regular goal wrongly called back and also only drew 1-1. The VAR assistants made two substantial errors in Saturday’s Premier League programme, with the head of referees having to apologise.

Gunners coach Mikel Arteta protested against Brentford’s 1:1 goal in the post-match press conference. He complained about the offside position of Ethan Pinock, who prevented Gabriel Magalhaes from moving smoothly.

Lee Mason at the VAR system assessed the situation as not affecting the course of action enough for a goal to be called off.

On Sunday morning, however, the situation surrounding Brentford midfielder Christian Norgaard began to be addressed. The latter was in fact in a clear offside position in the build-up to the action, but this was not spotted by Mason in a series of duels.

And VAR picked a real weak moment in the British Isles on Saturday. On Previs Estupinan’s Brighton goal against Crystal Palace, a group of referees incorrectly drew the offside line and wrongly called off the Ecuador international’s penalty.

Both Arsenal and Brighton were probably cost two points by the referees’ errors. Arsenal could not recover from the penalty and drew 1-1.

Brighton did take the lead at Sellhurst Park in the second half, but the home side equalised late on to make it 1-1.

The PGMOL (the body responsible for refereeing in English football) quickly took the situation into its own hands and contacted both clubs with an apology.

“The PGMOL can confirm that the head of referees, Howard Webb, has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton. He has acknowledged and explained the significant VAR errors in Saturday’s Premier League matches,” the press release reads.

Sources: PGMOL, Premier League