Liverpool's Premier League victory over Tottenham last weekend almost went ahead without VAR, according to reports.
The Reds secured a 1-0 win over Jose Mourinho's side to extend their unbeaten start to the league campaign, with Roberto Firmino scoring the only goal of the game.
VAR played a prominent role in the winner, ruling that Jordan Henderson had not handled the ball in the build-up to the Brazilian's strike.
However, the Daily Mail reports that use of the video assistant was nearly not an option for the clash due to technical issues.
It is understood that there were concerns that the technology would not be available after there was a powercut at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before the match.
According to the publication, after learning of the outage, Premier League officials decided that the match would proceed without VAR if needed.
That was not the case, however, as engineers at the venue were able to rectify the issue and test the system before the game got underway at 5.30pm.
It is also claimed that league officials were leaning to prioritising VAR when limited power at Spurs' home left them facing a choice of whether to use it or goal-line technology at one stage.
If the fixture had gone ahead without VAR, it would have been the only game in England's top flight to not feature the video assistant since its introduction at that the start of the campaign.
Its use during the match was not without controversy, with Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho criticising the implementation of the technology.
Television replays showed that the throw-in that led to Liverpool's goal should have been awarded to the hosts, with the final touch coming off Sadio Mane before it went out of play, only for the incident to not be reviewed by VAR.
The Spurs boss also felt that Andy Robertson was lucky to avoid a red card for a heavy challenge on Japhaet Tanganga that was also not checked.
He told Sky Sports after the game: "They could perfectly have finished the game with ten [players].
"The VAR, at that time, they were having a tea and they didn't watch Robertson for a red card."
