You won’t find many Premier League fans who are supporters of the VAR replay system in its current form, and that’ll be especially true in West London.
Chelsea took on Manchester United on Monday at Stamford Bridge in what was a crucial match for the Blues, and they ended up getting a disastrous display from VAR — all resulting in a 2-0 Manchester United win.
The controversy started in the 21st minute when United’s Harry Maguire kicked out at the groin of Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi. It should have been a clear red card, but when VAR checked the incident, Maguire wasn’t shown a card at all.
Even without acknowledging that a kick to the groin warrants a red card on its own merits, there was precedent to send Maguire off for that contact. It was virtually the same play that had Tottenham’s Heung-min Son sent off for violent contact on Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger in December.
There’s no consistency with VAR, which allows the system to continue to fail.
Maguire being allowed to stay on the pitch would prove huge later in the match, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
A VAR mistake would hurt Chelsea again in the second half. This time, wiping a goal completely off the board. Kurt Zouma scored in the 55th minute off a corner, but when VAR took a look, it ruled that Cesar Azpilicueta committed a foul before the goal. What VAR didn’t see was that Azpilicueta was pushed, and even the NBC broadcasters were ripping the Premier League’s replay decisions.
Around 10 minutes later, Maguire — who, again, shouldn’t have been in the game anymore — doubled Manchester United’s lead with his first goal of the Premier League season. Of course this happened …
And just for good measure, VAR wiped off another Chelsea goal when Olivier Giroud was ruled offside by mere inches.
It was a brutal night for Chelsea, and fans were understandably fed up with VAR.
With the loss, Chelsea holds a one-point lead for fourth place over Tottenham. Sheffield United and Manchester United are also within three points of Chelsea.
