Arsenal’s VAR escapes reshape title talk and anger

Arsenal got – Arsenal, newly crowned Premier League champions, have spent parts of the season under fire for controversial refereeing and VAR moments. From Kai Havertz not being reviewed after a high tackle to a West Ham goal ruled out after an extended VAR check, the Gunne

Arsenal’s title celebrations arrived with an accusation still clinging to the narrative: the idea that they got away with it.

Last season, the club’s record fed the backlash. Arsenal finished with a league-leading six red cards and conceded three penalties—numbers that helped earn them a reputation as hot-headed. This time around, though, the mood has flipped. On a Sunday at Selhurst Park. a “perfect outing” against Crystal Palace would mean Arsenal end the league season without a single blemish on their record.

The “VARsenal” label may still be out there, but the season’s refereeing and VAR flashpoints have become the battleground for a different kind of debate: not whether Arsenal won, but how tightly—or not—the game has been policed around them.

The most immediate spark came in Monday’s win over Burnley. Kai Havertz caught Lesley Ugochukwu with a high contact tackle, and his studs were involved in the challenge. Referee Paul Tierney issued an immediate yellow card. Yet Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did not initiate a review.

The moment landed with force. Interim manager Mike Jackson. pundits and fans all reacted in disbelief. with many left wondering why Havertz wasn’t sent off after the type of contact that normally triggers a deeper look. It was a reminder that “getting let off” isn’t always about overturning decisions—it can also be about what doesn’t get reviewed at all.

This frustration has repeated itself in other high-stakes games—sometimes with clear clashes between what supporters saw in real time and what officials later decided they had to see.

In March. Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea in a game that swung after the dismissal of their opponents brought one of the season’s loudest arguments. There was anger online over a claimed handball by Declan Rice on a corner kick. with the accusation framed around the way Jorrel Hato was “nearly choking” during the incident. Arsenal did go on to score from that set-piece.

Another flashpoint involved David Raya. He appeared to make contact with Joao Pedro while stretching to punch the ball away. Pedro Neto, meanwhile, had already received two yellow cards.

Arsenal were shown a rare moment of relief through the inconsistency of what gets punished. VAR overturned a no-penalty decision when West Ham’s Alphonse Areola did something similar earlier in the season against Nottingham Forest. After that Hammers match, Tomas Soucek did not hold back. “For me it is a joke. I just saw it again and I think we can have 20 penalties per game if it is like that. I came to the Premier League because I thought it was the toughest league in the world and we are all fighters and warriors. but this looks more like basketball when you can’t touch the player.”.

If the Chelsea episode fed the feeling that Arsenal rode luck, Everton’s game added another twist: even when the ruling later looked like it should have changed the outcome, it didn’t.

Arsenal won 1-0 thanks to a Victor Gyokeres penalty. but Everton argued they were owed a spot kick of their own. At Hill Dickinson Stadium, the Toffees’ case centred on William Saliba’s challenge. Saliba kicked the foot of Everton striker Thierno Barry while attempting to clear the ball. VAR did not alert referee Sam Barrott, with officials concluding there was not enough contact to warrant a penalty.

The dispute didn’t fade. The Key Match Incident (KMI) panel later conceded it was a mistake. Its ruling said it was “a late challenge where Saliba carelessly kicks Barry with no contact on the ball” and concluded VAR should have intervened. In a season full of “if only. ” it was one of the clearest moments where the missed check was acknowledged as the wrong call.

Manchester City vs Arsenal offered a different kind of tension—one shaped by the thin line between a yellow card flashpoint and a potential red.

City won that match on a 90th-minute goal from Erling Haaland. but the earlier stoppage talk revolved around Gabriel Magalhães and Haaland themselves. The pair were involved in a physical battle all match when a tussle left them face-to-face. Gabriel thrust his head forward to push the Norwegian. Both sets of players erupted into a brief shoving match.

Both stars were booked with a yellow card, but opinions split over whether Gabriel’s actions deserved a sending off. The KMI later found that referee Anthony Taylor made the wrong call—yet it ruled the threshold wasn’t met for VAR to get involved.

So Arsenal avoided the red, but the error—paired with the decision not to intervene—kept the criticism alive.

Another late-season worry for the Gunners came again in March. when Arsenal’s visit to Brighton threatened to swing the title race. With the score at 1-0, Mats Weiffer got in behind Gabriel Martinelli and was pulled down inside the box. There was a massive appeal from the pitch and beyond. This time, too, VAR did not intervene.

When the KMI revisited the incident. it backed the officials’ original stance: “Martinelli is not looking at the ball. holds Wieffer into the area and prevents the Brighton player from challenging for the ball.” For Arsenal fans at the American Express Stadium. it was another call that felt like points were lost twice—first in real time. then again when the decision refused to change.

Then came the loudest, most dramatic VAR storm of the season—one that landed in the middle of a campaign many believed could be decided by single moments.

In West Ham vs Arsenal, Leandro Trossard scored a late go-ahead goal and Arsenal tried to protect their advantage. But Callum Wilson broke through after latching onto a loose ball following a hotly-contested corner kick. What followed was a VAR review that stretched to four minutes and 11 seconds.

The goal was ruled out, with officials deeming that David Raya had been fouled by Pablo during the corner kick. The controversy did not stop at the final call. Many pointed to what they believed were numerous fouls happening simultaneously involving figures such as Trossard and Declan Rice.

The ruling offered a different sequence: the first foul was Pablo’s on Raya. KMI and PGMO chief Howard Webb said the decision was correct, but the backlash has been immediate and intense—many branding it as one of the most controversial VAR decisions ever.

If the season’s theme has been discipline. the other half of the story has been what happens when discipline collides with interpretation. Arsenal have cut down the extremes that once defined them—red cards and penalties have not followed them at the same pace. Yet these five incidents. pulled together from the biggest swings in matches. leave the same question hanging over the title talk: how much of Arsenal’s triumph came on the pitch. and how much came from moments where VAR either stepped in—or didn’t.

Arsenal Premier League VARsenal VAR Kai Havertz Mike Jackson Paul Tierney Burnley Crystal Palace Chelsea Declan Rice David Raya Joao Pedro Tomas Soucek Everton William Saliba Thierno Barry Sam Barrott Key Match Incident Manchester City Erling Haaland Gabriel Magalhães Brighton Mats Weiffer Martinelli West Ham Callum Wilson Leandro Trossard Pablo Howard Webb