Without VAR, Liverpool would be in the bottom half and just six points above the relegation group, while Man Utd dropped out of the top 4 in the Premier League this season.

English Premier League scoreboard as of February 2, if there is no VAR intervention.

ESPN  has calculated 61 VAR appearances since the start of the Premier League this season, shifting referees’ decisions on the pitch to see how they could affect matches. ESPN only counts the first VAR decision change in each game, as “calculation assumes that any subsequent VAR decision will not occur, since the entire direction of the match has been changed”.

Then,  ESPN  takes into account a variety of factors, including team form, expected goal score (xG), impact, when VAR ᴋɪᴄᴋs in, and then comes up with this season’s Premier League standings if none. VAR.

According to the  ESPN scoreboard above,  Liverpool earns six points – the most out of 20 teams – from VAR decisions. Jurgen Klopp’s army benefited when Conor Coady’s late goal in the 0-0 draw at Everton in September 2022 was denied by VAR. A month later, in a 3-3 draw at Brighton at Anfield, VAR determined Mo Salah was not offside and recognized a goal from Roberto Firmino, when Liverpool were leading 0-2. Liverpool also ʙᴇᴀᴛ Man City 1-0 a few weeks later, thanks to Phil Foden being denied the opening goal.

Phil Foden in the denied goal in the match Man City lost 0-1 at Liverpool in October 2022. Photo: AFP

Liverpool currently ranked ninth with 29 points. But without VAR, Klopp’s army would drop to 11th with 23 points, six points above the red light group and 14 points behind the Champions League group.

Aston Villa benefited the second most when they won four points thanks to VAR, Brentford, Crystal Palace and Man Utd had three more points, and Newcastle won two points. Brentford is the team with the most goals recognized by VAR, with three goals, but also denied three goals. Without VAR, Brentford would have lost three points and dropped one place to ninth.

The 3-1 victory over Arsenal in September 2022 was the only result of Man Utd that was changed thanks to the intervention of VAR. Specifically, when the score was not open, Gabriel Martinelli crossed the corner to ʙᴇᴀᴛ David de Gea. But the goal was disallowed because Martin Odegaard was determined to have fouled Christian Eriksen. This decision was later confirmed as one of six errors by VAR in the first half of the season. At that time, Arsenal was expected to win after opening the scoring.

VAR intervention caused referee Paul Tierney to disallow Martinelli’s goal at the beginning of Arsenal’s 1-3 loss at Man Utd in September 2022. Screenshots

In contrast, Leeds suffered the most, losing five points to VAR. The army under Jesse Marsch is currently 15th with 18 points, just one point above the 18th ranked team Bournemouth. Without VAR, Leeds would move up three places to 12th, six points above the relegation zone.

Behind Leeds is Man City, the club will win three more points without VAR. Pep Guardiola’s teachers and students were affected when Foden was denied a goal in the 0-1 loss to Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Arsenal only won one more point without VAR. In addition to the three more points won from the match against Man Utd mentioned above, the 1-0 victory over Leeds will become a draw. In injury time this match, VAR entered the game and denied the penalty ᴋɪᴄᴋ for the home team.

According to  ESPN calculations, without VAR, Arsenal still leads with 51 points, but only three points ahead of Man City, compared to the current five points. Meanwhile, West Ham will have three more points, Brighton and Everton have two more, and Antonio Conte’s Tottenham surpass both Newcastle and Man Utd to finish third in the Premier League.

Of the five teams currently at the bottom of the table, four have the higher total points. The only team unchanged was Wolves, and that dropped them from 17th to 19th. Everton took two more points and moved up to 18th, while Leicester City were overtaken by West Ham.