Former Select Group referee Andy Davies reviewed the video assistant referee decision that kept Kai Havertz on the field in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Burnley. The incident occurred in the 67th minute when Havertz lunged at Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu, making no contact with the ball and catching Ugochukwu on the back of the calf with his studs. On-field referee Paul Tierney issued a yellow card.
VAR official James Bell checked the on-field decision and carried out a VAR review before confirming the yellow. According to Davies, the fact that Bell initiated a review indicated discomfort with the challenge, but the VAR team concluded the contact lacked the excessive force required to meet the threshold for serious foul play.
Davies, who spent more than 12 seasons on the elite refereeing list and has worked within the VAR space in the Premier League, judged that Havertz’s action met the standard for endangering an opponent’s safety and should have resulted in a red card. He said both the on-field referee and VAR produced poor judgment in allowing the yellow to stand.
The analysis notes that VAR protocol is led by the referee’s real-time decision; once Tierney deemed the contact not excessive, VAR found it difficult to overturn that view based on the replays it reviewed. Davies argued that this deference played a part in the outcome of the review.
Had Havertz been sent off, Arsenal would have played the final 20-plus minutes with 10 men, which Davies said could have altered the match result and, potentially, the Premier League title race. Instead, Arsenal held on for a narrow 1-0 win, a result Davies said left Burnley — and perhaps Manchester City — feeling hard done by.
