By Chiagoziem Abosi
Match week 4 of the Premier League had goals, surprises, red cards and, once again, a major VAR talking point.
From Arsenal maintaining their perfect start to Brighton’s five-goal demolition of Coventry, here is a quick look at how the weekend unfolded before Monday’s final fixture between Leeds United and Newcastle United.
A Quick Look at the Weekend Results
Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal: Arsenal maintained their perfect start as Bruno Guimarães and Bukayo Saka got the goals. David Raya also saved a penalty.
Liverpool 0-0 Fulham: Liverpool dropped two points at Anfield as Fulham picked up their first point of the season.
Chelsea 2-2 Hull City: Chelsea were held at Stamford Bridge, while newly promoted Hull continued their impressive start to life in the Premier League.
Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest: Forest secured their first league win of the season with a late Igor Jesus goal.
Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich Town: Ipswich snatched all three points with a stoppage-time winner from Zian Flemming.
Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford: The two sides shared the points in an entertaining draw, with Brentford remaining unbeaten.
Tottenham 0-0 Everton: Tottenham’s early-season scoring problems continued as they failed to score for the fourth consecutive league game.
Coventry 0-5 Brighton: Brighton moved into the top four after a dominant win, while Coventry remained without a point or a goal after four matches. But then came the game everyone was watching.
Manchester Derby: City Win, VAR Takes the Spotlight
Manchester City left Old Trafford with a 1-0 win over Manchester United, but the result has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Erling Haaland’s winning goal.
City were reduced to 10 men in the first half after Phil Foden was sent off for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.
Despite being a man down, City found the breakthrough in the 60th minute when Haaland finished from Josko Gvardiol’s cross.
The goal was initially ruled offside.
VAR then reviewed the decision and overturned it, determining that Haaland himself was onside.
However, there was another part of the incident.
Manchester City’s Enzo Fernández was in an offside position and had attempted to play the ball before Haaland scored. He did not make contact with it.
At the time, VAR decided that Fernández had not committed an offside offence because he had not played the ball.
That decision has now been admitted to be wrong.
After the match, Pro Ref, the body responsible for overseeing Premier League refereeing, reviewed the incident.
Its conclusion was that VAR had failed to properly recognise the likely impact of Fernández’s position on the play.
Pro Ref said VAR should have recommended an on-field review because Fernández’s involvement made the offside decision subjective.
The refereeing body contacted Manchester United to acknowledge what it described as an “error of judgment” and confirmed that the incident would be reviewed.
And there has now been a further development.
VAR official Matt Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus have been stood down from the next round of Premier League matches.
They are expected to remain unavailable until after the international break while the incident is reviewed.
So, while Manchester City’s 1-0 victory officially stands, the refereeing body has acknowledged that the decision which allowed the winning goal to stand was an error.
