Assistant VAR dropped over derby error made correct intervention previous week

Blake Antrobus, who has been stood down until after the international break for his part in the decision to allow Erling Haaland’s goal on Sunday to stand for Manchester City, despite Enzo Fernandez being offside and interfering with play, was also the AVAR for the Brentford v Sunderland match on September 5.

Alongside VAR Timothy Wood, he intervened to advise referee Thomas Bramall to review whether Sunderland’s Kevin Danso, who was in an offside position, was in the line of vision of Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher as Dan Ballard’s shot went past him.

The Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel, comprised of three former players and coaches, one Premier League representative and one from Pro Ref, unanimously agreed with Wood and Antrobus’ decision to intervene in their summary of match week three.

Referees’ chief Howard Webb said the high-profile error at Old Trafford on Sunday was the result of “tunnel vision” from VAR Matt Donohue and said it was down to the rest of the VAR team, including Antrobus, “to pull him out of that tunnel”.

The error by Donohue and Antrobus at Old Trafford has led to calls to scrap VAR, but the system was found to have ensured 100 per cent accuracy in all 18 pivotal moments identified by the KMI panel in match week three.

The panel said that of the 18 KMIs, 94 per cent were dealt with properly by the on-field officials. That rose to 100 per cent after VAR checks.

“There were five VAR reviews and the panel concluded that all five were correct VAR overturns. The panel also deemed that there were no missed VAR interventions,” a statement on the Premier League website read.

Up to and including match week three there have been 60 KMIs, with 87 per cent dealt with correctly on field. That goes up to 97 per cent after VAR checks.

Also among the 18 incidents examined was the decision to rule out Neco Williams’ goal for Nottingham Forest against Tottenham on September 5 for an accidental handball.

The VAR intervention was unanimously supported by the panel, which said: “The ball factually makes contact with Williams on the arm before going directly into the goal.”

The panel also found referee Chris Kavanagh and VAR Darren England were right not to take any action against Arsenal defender Gabriel, who appeared to kick Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the head when challenging for the ball in the sides’ match on September 6.

“The panel unanimously supported the referee’s call of no red card,” the panel said.

“Multiple players were on the ground competing and challenging for the loose ball and the action of Gabriel was not deemed to be an act of violent conduct or serious foul play.”