VAR Stripped Away: Man City Crash Down as 2026–27 Premier League Table Gets Dramatic Shake-Up

The iconic Brazilian dramatist and football writer Nelson Rodrigues was far from enthusiastic about the arrival of televised football. "If the videotape shows it's a penalty then all the worse for the videotape," he once famously scoffed. "The videotape is stupid."

One can only wonder what he would have thought of video assistant referees. The Premier League's elite certainly aren't fans.

Despite efforts to adopt a "light touch" approach this season, the English top-flight's officials have repeatedly made heavy-handed interventions in the most high-profile matches of this young campaign. Howard Webb has already issued his first groveling apology, which was promptly dismissed, while the rest of the division awaits its own explanatory letters regarding a string of other disputed incidents. The season, it bears reminding, is only five games in.

Even at this early point in the campaign, the Premier League standings would look considerably different had every referee adopted Rodrigues's philosophy.

Premier League Table Without VAR

Manchester United sit at the heart of the Premier League's most significant VAR error since the wrongly labeled "good process" that saw Luis Díaz's onside goal for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur overturned in 2023. As Webb, the head of the competition's refereeing body, has been compelled to awkwardly acknowledge across various platforms, Erling Haaland's winner in the Manchester derby should never have been allowed to stand.

The officials fell victim to "tunnel vision," in Webb's own words, and failed to notice that Enzo Fernández's full-stretch jump in front of Lisandro Martínez could be interpreted as deliberate interference from an offside player. VAR Matt Donohue instead became preoccupied with confirming that Haaland was actually onside when he bundled the ball past Senne Lammens.

Yet, despite the significance of that goal — which condemned United to a humbling loss against City's 10 men — Michael Carrick's side would still find themselves in 12th place even with the additional point.

Arsenal and Liverpool, on the other hand, would be moving upward. The Gunners would gain from Manchester City's drop while the Reds were robbed of a victory against Nottingham Forest after Florian Wirtz's correctly disallowed offside goal.

Forest themselves would surge all the way to 10th. Oliver Glasner's new outfit has been stripped of an additional three points by VAR's decisive involvement. Neco Williams had the only 'goal' of an otherwise goalless draw with Tottenham Hotspur ruled out by VAR for an alleged handball while challenging in a 50-50 on the goal-line with Sandro Tonali.

The officials at Stockley Park were not presented with a camera angle that conclusively proved Williams had handled the ball, yet still disallowed the goal — much to the fullback's dismay. "Clear and obvious they say," he vented on social media following the match.

Just last weekend, Forest were once again denied a goal that could have earned them a point against Coventry City, as Igor Jesus was adjudged to have fouled Caleb Yirenkyi before sliding the ball into the bottom corner. "Of course I have thoughts but I don't want to speak about it again," Glasner fumed.

Man City's Offside Vindication

When the flag went up after Haaland had sneaked the ball past Lammens at Old Trafford earlier this season, he was momentarily baffled. "I thought there was maybe someone who had flicked it, I don't normally go offside," he later reflected. "I talked to [referee] Michael Oliver and I told him I took it personal that he thought I went offside."

Haaland's belief in his ability to time his runs was entirely warranted. As the footage confirmed, City's No. 9 had executed his role perfectly, even if the VAR had not. This is nothing new. Despite consistently lurking on the shoulder of the last defender, Haaland has only been correctly flagged offside once throughout the entire season.

Joško Gvardiol appears to have picked up the same cunning habit. On two separate occasions this season, the Croatian defender has triggered an incorrect offside flag in the buildup to a goal. Unlike Haaland's derby winner, both were rightly allowed to stand. Gvardiol's stoppage-time strike against Bournemouth handed Enzo Maresca the perfect start, a momentum that carried into the international break following a wild victory over Sunderland on Sunday, the final goal of which was created by Gvardiol and finished by Haaland.

Without these retrospective offside reviews, City would be four points adrift and sitting third rather than leading the table with a flawless record. Yet even Maresca continues to quarrel with the video technology, railing about supposedly wrong decisions from three years ago.