NOTTINGHAM FOREST would have earned a Champions League spot at the expense of Newcastle if VAR did not exist.
And the Magpies’ escape from any consequences for their home defeat by Everton is put into even starker content as they would have missed out on European football altogether without the technology.
SunSport have analysed all 380 Prem matches this term and worked out how the table would have looked if the original on-field decisions had not been overturned after intervention by the Stockley Park video booth.
Our number crunchers found that Eddie Howe’s men were by far the biggest beneficiaries of VAR changes.
Newcastle had a staggering 13 decisions changed in their favour, with just five reversals hurting them.
That brought a net figure of +8, with Aston Villa and West Ham next in the benefits column with each having four more interventions in their favour than against them.
Our analysis, which assumes every penalty that was initially awarded and then wiped was scored, suggests that without VAR Newcastle would have picked up four fewer points - dropping them to eighth in the table - and conceded seven more goals.
Forest, whose home defeat by Chelsea left them in the Conference League slot, would have finished fifth in our “No VAR” table.
And Bournemouth, ninth in the actual table, would have been preparing for a first continental campaign in the Europa League without the technology changes.
Andoni Iraola’s side had 11 VAR changes against them and just three in their favour, costing the Cherries EIGHT points and seven goals.
The study of the 111 changed decisions cannot determine definitively what would have happened in real life if the initial decisions had not been overturned.
But one of the most contentious calls saw Dango Ouattara’s last-gasp “winner” against Newcastle in August chalked off for a handball PGMOL chief Howard Webb subsequently conceded was wrongly overturned after the VAR intervention.
Over the course of the season there were 12 goals and 25 penalties awarded through VAR intervention - with 21 of those spot-kicks converted - compared to 48 goals and 11 penalties disallowed.
Liverpool’s 10-point advantage over Arsenal at the top of the pile would have been reduced to just two without VAR, as the Gunners lost eight points from the six overturns against them - including “winning” goals against Chelsea, Fulham and Aston Villa.
Chelsea and Manchester City swap places, with the Londoners up to third, with Villa down one to take the Conference League slot.
