Premier League Referees' Body Admits 'Significant' Mistakes In Arsenal And Brighton Games Were Caused By 'Human Error'

Monday, 13 February 2023 08:58

By (C) Sky Sport: Ajay Nair, news reporter

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta speaks to the referee after the controversial decision by VAR to allow Brentford's equaliser to stand

The Premier League's referees' body has admitted "significant errors" in the offside decisions that went against Arsenal and Brighton in their games on Saturday.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) issued a statement after Ivan Toney's goal for Brentford was wrongly allowed to stand against league leaders Arsenal, while Brighton's Pervis Estupiñán scored against Crystal Palace and was incorrectly ruled offside.

Both matches ended as 1-1 draws, with the PGMOL contacting the clubs and blaming the incidents on "human error".

The organisation wrote on Twitter:

"PGMOL can confirm its Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion to acknowledge and explain the significant errors in the VAR [video assistant referee] process in their respective Premier League fixtures on Saturday.

"Both incidents, which were due to human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being thoroughly reviewed by PGMOL."

Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has called for VAR official Lee Mason to step down for failing to rule out the Toney equaliser.

It is understood Mason did not fully investigate an offside decision against Brentford's Christian Norgaard in the build-up to Toney's goal against Arsenal.

Hackett tweeted:

"Howard Webb is now in charge of the PGMOL. One of the first things he should do is dismiss permanent VAR operator Lee Mason.

"This weekend, Mason lets another referee down by not disallowing the Brentford goal for offside. These are decisions that VAR should get right."

The incidents follow fresh controversy around VAR, with Chelsea and Brighton at the end of controversial decisions going against them over the weekend.

Sky News