EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsVideo assistant referee causes controversy every week whether it be the Premier League, Champions League or FA Cup, but how are decisions made and are they correct?This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game. Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday. Arsenal 1-0 BurnleyReferee: Paul TierneyVAR: James BellTime: 67 minutesIncident: Possible red card to Arsenal's Kai Havertz for a challenge on Lesley Ugochukwu.What happened: Havertz lunged in on Ugochukwu as the Burnley midfielder broke away in the middle of the pitch. Havertz made no contact on the ball, catching Ugochukwu in the back of his calf with his studs.On-field referee Paul Tierney felt the challenge by Havertz was reckless in real-time and sanctioned a relieved Havertz with a yellow card only.VAR decision: The referee's call of yellow card to Havertz was checked and confirmed by VAR -- with the challenge deemed not to be serious foul play.VAR review: VAR James Bell had to decide if the challenge clearly met the criteria of serious foul play for him to recommend an on-field review for it to be upgraded from a yellow to a red card. The very fact that VAR instigated a "VAR review" shows that Bell was uncomfortable with the nature of Havertz' challenge.However, having viewed the replays, Bell agreed with the on-field referee that whilst the contact was high on the calf of Ugochukwu, contact lacked the excessive force required for the challenge to be considered as endangering the safety of his opponent. VAR cleared the on-field decision as correct and the yellow card for Havertz stood.Verdict: Arsenal and Havertz are very fortunate that this challenge was not recommended by the VAR to be upgraded from yellow to a red card. By lunging into the back of Ugochukwu's calf with a level of force, Havertz's action meets the threshold of endangering the safety of an opponent, serious foul play.In other words: Havertz should have seen a red card.VAR is always led by the real-time decisions from the referee in these types of situations, and once the referee only produced a yellow card with his rationale that the contact wasn't excessive, VAR found it difficult to disagree given the replays he viewed. However, this was poor judgment by both.On-field referee Tierney should have recognised this as a red card challenge in real-time given the dynamics and nature of the challenge, and VAR, who looked at several replays before confirming the decision, really should have produced a different outcome.In turn, if Arsenal had to finish out the final 20-plus minutes down a man, the final result could've looked different, and so too the Premier League title race could've shifted. Instead, Arsenal earn a narrow 1-0 win, leaving Burnley -- and perhaps Manchester City -- feeling hard done by.
