Mike Dean Favored to Conduct 1st Premier League VAR Pitchside Review; Odds Against a Review on Matchday 12

• VAR in use in the EPL for the first time
• Loads of controversy around its implementation with “clear and obvious” being overlooked
• Will the pitchside monitors be used for the first time on Matchday 12?

In its first EPL season, VAR has been at the center of everything and not in a good way. The plan was for VAR to be used to ensure referees were prevented from making “clear and obvious” errors but in the first 11 rounds of EPL soccer, VAR has been at the center of controversy after controversy.

Rather than it being used to eliminate the endless debates over the quality of refereeing, the debate continues over the use of VAR rather than the actual decisions. Instead of reducing controversy, it has created more.

Odds for EPL VAR Pitchside Review During 2019-20 Season

All odds taken November 4.

So far, rather than being used to assist referees, VAR has been used to make the decisions on their behalf. The policy of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL), led by its managing director Mike Riley (a former EPL referee), has been for questionable decisions to be referred to Stockley Park – the VAR base near London’s Heathrow Airport – and for them to make the decision themselves with no involvement from the referee.

Normally, if a call is a close one, the referee is usually referred to the pitchside monitor – just as they were frequently in last season’s UEFA Champions League and the 2018 World Cup – but despite this facility being available at every EPL stadium, this has not happened once. Once a decision has been ‘owned’ by Stockley Park, it is taken out of the referees’ hands and is instead presided over by a handful of officials who then scrutinize it using the technology.

The problem – one of many – is that if a decision needs to be viewed from numerous different angles in order to clarify if it’s correct or not, then the “clear and obvious error” rule then appears to be no more.

Given the furor over last weekend’s terrible use of VAR, it seems obvious that at some stage there will be a need for the PGMOL policy of leaving it to Stockley Park to be relaxed. I expect to see a referee using a pitchside monitor before the end of this season.

My pick: A VAR pitchside review to occur before the end of the season (-600)

EPL Referee to Conduct First VAR Pitchside Review Odds

Quite who, if anyone, will be the first referee to ‘blink’ and head to the pitchside monitor is a tricky one, but with sportsbooks offering odds on this, it’s worth looking to see if there is value to be had.

So far 27 goals or incidents have been directly affected by VAR with the spread from ref to ref being fairly even as things stand, with all of them having had decisions reviewed if not overturned. There is no direct correlation between the high profile referees and VAR controversy, nor with those who are the most highly rated.

What has changed since the start of the season is the stance Stockley Park has taken with regard to how they review decisions. For the first few weeks of the season they were fully supportive of refs and no decisions were overturned – some saying this was a crude form of support to their fellow refs. But following criticism for ignoring some “clear and obvious errors” the pendulum has swung completely and they now appear to be overturning decisions that appear correct in the first instance.

However, on the basis of unreliable decision-making being most likely to trigger the first pitchside review, there are a couple of referees, other than the favorite Mike Dean, who should be considered in this context. Stuart Attwell would be one contender, but my money will be going elsewhere.

My pick: Simon Hooper to be the first ref to conduct a VAR pitchside review (+1800)

Odds for First EPL VAR Pitchside Review to Happen in Matchday 12

One of the many criticisms of VAR in the EPL is the amount of time it takes to arrive at a decision and, as stated earlier, the suggestion is if it takes too long to arrive at a clear-cut decision then the error is not clear and obvious in the first place.

Riley has met with all Premier League managers over the past fortnight and is under pressure to improve both the effectiveness and speed of the decision making – including offsides, which have been taking far too long, with some crazily tight decisions being arrived at, like Firmino’s disallowed goal for Liverpool at the weekend.

So, on the basis there will be extra pressure on referees this weekend, let’s not rule out Stockley Park engaging with the on-field referee for the first time.

My pick: The first VAR pitchside review to take place on Matchday 12 (+900)