The Premier League’s governing authorities sought to enhance their tools to make them as effective as possible following a 2023–24 season that was filled with a number of officiating disputes, the majority of which were connected to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), as has been the case from its inception.
Numerous strategies have been implemented to try and lower the number of controversies, ranging from the implementation of the “Referee’s Call,” which gives the central referee’s decisions more weight, to the use of the Premier League Match Centre on social networks to defend a decision to Internet users, to the impending introduction of semi-automated offside.
However, no tool available today can offer a really failsafe answer to a particular scenario, as Director General of Refereeing Howard Webb told us. To put it another way, VAR is not perfect. Which teams, however, gain the most from these? GIVEMESPORT is now able to examine every choice made throughout the 2024–2025 Premier League season in order to provide an answer to this fundamental question, thanks to an ESPN study.
What is reviewed by VAR
Objective or non-objective
Penalty or no penalty
Red card straight away (not a second yellow card)
Mistaken identification (when the referee books the incorrect player)
Table of PL VAR Decisions 2024–2025
Rank
Club
Choices Regarding
Choices Opposed to
The net score
1.
Newcastle
13.
4.
+9.
2.
Villa Aston
8.
4.
+4
3.
Brighton
8.
5.
+3
4.
The Crystal Palace
7.
4.
+3
5.
Tottenham
7.
4.
+3
6.
City of Manchester
3.
One
+2
7.
West Ham
6.
4.
+2
8.
Brentford
5.
4.
+1
9.
Fulham
6.
5.
+1
10.
Leicester
5.
4.
+1
11.
Wolves
5.
5.
0
12.
Town of Ipswich
5.
6.
-1
13.
United Manchester
5.
6.
-1
14.
Everton
4.
6.
-2
15.
Liverpool
4.
6.
-2
16.
Chelsea
7.
10.
-3
17.
Southampton
4.
7.
-3
18.
Forest of Nottingham
2.
6.
-4
19.
The Arsenal
One
7.
-6
20.
Bournemouth AFC
4.
11.
-7
As of 02/06/25, accurate
The largest beneficiaries of Newcastle United
Thirteen times, the Magpies have benefited from a VAR review.
VAR hasn’t worked as successfully for any Premier League team as it has for Newcastle thus far this season. It enabled the Magpies to leave the Vitality Stadium with a draw against Bournemouth as early as August 25th, negating Dango Ouattara’s late goal for a handball.
Eddie Howe’s guys exploited him once more, twice, a little more than a month later. While James Tarkowski’s foul on Sandro Tonali earned the Toon Army a penalty (Jordan Pickford later saved Anthony Gordon’s shot), Abdoulaye Doucoure was disallowed for offside.
The Magpies ended their decades-long trophy drought by winning the Carabao Cup, finishing in the top five, and earning a spot in the Champions League once more. The Magpies, who are five points ahead of Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion, are unsurprisingly at the top of the list of teams with the best decisions.
Liverpool Among Top Teams Subject to VAR
During Arne Slot’s first season at Anfield, Liverpool won the Premier League season for just the second time in history. By April, they had completed their title charge after rioting across the division. Given how little assistance they received from VAR during the season, that accomplishment is all the more remarkable.
Throughout the season, Liverpool had four decisions go their way, but they also had six VAR rulings against them. Their league record is all the more remarkable because just five clubs had a worse experience with VAR this season.
Contender in the Champions League Unaffected by VAR
A cause for optimism in a mad dash
Undoubtedly, Chelsea’s season was full of unexpected turns. Enzo Maresca’s team originally believed they could challenge Liverpool for the championship, but nobody really knew where the Blues would finish following a challenging 2023–24 campaign. However, a string of unsatisfactory outcomes determined differently. Even yet, the London team managed to finish fourth and earn a spot in the Champions League for the next season.
With minimal assistance from VAR, they were able to make it back to the elite competition in Europe. They were the victim of ten more decisions from the system, even though seven of them went their way. Their season-ending net score of -3 made their comeback under Maresca all the more remarkable.
VAR Caused Arsenal’s Problems
Even though VAR frequently ruled against the Gunners, they nevertheless finished second.
This season, Arsenal missed out on winning the Premier League title to Liverpool and had to settle for second place for the third consecutive season. Mikel Arteta’s team had a disappointing season without any hardware, but they were without VAR’s assistance the entire time. In contrast, seven judgments went against the Gunners during 2024–2025, while they only benefited from VAR once.
The team will stop at nothing to reclaim the Premier League crown, especially with a hectic summer ahead. But if they want to do so, they’ll need to have more luck with VAR.
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