VAR was involved in three big decisions in Chelsea's Premier League match against Liverpool(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Premier League forced to release three VAR statements during Liverpool vs Chelsea drama

21 Oct 2024, 14:00 by Amie Wilson · football.london

Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Liverpool wasn’t without drama on Sunday afternoon. The Blues fell to a 2-1 away defeat at Anfield.

Nicolas Jackson scored an equaliser for Enzo Maresca’s side in the second half, but they were level for just three minutes after Curtis Jones fired Arne Slot's side ahead. The game also saw VAR get involved in decisions on three separate occasions.

It means that the newly introduced Premier League match centre X (formerly Twitter) account was kept busy, explaining why decisions were made. Firstly, the officials used technology to double-check the penalty awarded to Liverpool for a foul from Levi Colwill on Curtis Jones.

After the decision was confirmed by VAR, the account released a statement explaining the decision, saying: “27’ The referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Colwill on Jones. The VAR checked and confirmed the referee’s call, deeming that contact was sufficient for a penalty.”

Mohamed Salah was tasked with taking the penalty, which he scored to put Liverpool 1-0 up. Chelsea thought that they had conceded a second penalty in first half stoppage time when the referee pointed to the spot for what he thought was a foul by Robert Sanchez on Jones again.

However, the decision was overturned, with the Premier League releasing a statement to explain why. It read: “45+2’ VAR OVERTURN. The referee awarded a penalty to Liverpool for a foul by Sanchez on Jones. The VAR deemed that Sanchez won the ball and no foul was committed and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball.”

VAR also got involved in awarding Chelsea's equalising goal just after the half time break. Nicolas Jackson was initially flagged as offside, but a check showed that Ibrahima Konate was playing the Chelsea striker onside.

In their statement, the Premier League said: “48’ VAR OVERTURN. Jackson’s goal was disallowed for offside on-field. The VAR checked and confirmed that Jackson was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded.”

The account also posted a picture showing Jackson behind the last defender when the pass was played to him. Therefore, allowing the goal to stand and the original offside decision being overturned.

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