The Premier League has officially published its latest refereeing assessment, in which the five-member independent panel unanimously ruled that during the Matchweek 4 Manchester derby where Manchester United lost 0-1 to Manchester City, Enzo Fernández was in an offside position, Erling Haaland's goal should have undergone a VAR review, and the on-field decision was clearly incorrect. Furthermore, in Arsenal's 2-0 victory over Sunderland, Ezri Konsa's challenge on Dan Ballard did not constitute a foul, and a penalty should not have been awarded.
Manchester United vs Manchester City: Haaland's Controversial Goal
Premier League Panel Findings:
Incident: Erling Haaland in an onside position, Enzo Fernández in an offside position (60th minute)
Outcome on-field: Incorrect – Enzo Fernández impacting opponent (0 votes in favour of on-field decision; 5 against)
VAR intervention outcome: Incorrect – Clear and obvious error (0:5)
Panel findings: The panel unanimously agreed that allowing the goal to stand without a proper VAR intervention was incorrect. Fernández was in an offside position, made an attempt to play the ball in close proximity to him, and in doing so impacted the ability of both the defender and the goalkeeper to play the ball. A subjective offside offense during the attacking possession phase was missed, and an on-field review (OFR) should have been recommended.
Arsenal vs Sunderland: Konsa Pulling Penalty Decision
Incident: Penalty awarded. Ezri Konsa challenge on Dan Ballard (54th minute)
Outcome on-field: Incorrect (0:5)
Video Assistant Referee (VAR) intervention outcome: VAR correct – Not a clear and obvious error (3 votes in favour, 2 against)
KMI Panel: Three members supported the decision for the VAR not to intervene, while two voted against. The majority view was that, considering the mutual actions of both players, the on-field decision did not reach the threshold of a clear and obvious error.
How can the KMI panel determine the on-field decision was incorrect while simultaneously finding that the VAR was correct not to intervene?
Panel members evaluate the referee's on-field decision first before assessing the actions taken by the VAR. It is equally important to emphasize that the Premier League maintains a very high threshold for VAR intervention.
In this instance, the panel concluded that although the referee made an error and a penalty should not have been awarded, the decision did not meet the threshold of being a clear and obvious error. Consequently, it was not deemed an incident where the VAR was required to intervene.
