How every Premier League club was affected by VAR in the 2022/23 season | OneFootball

VAR caused its fair share of controversy during the 2022/23 Premier League season - with use of the technology dominating discussion at several points during the campaign.

In total, apologies have been made by either PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) or the referee involved on 13 occasions for errors made during matches.

Although VAR hasn't been popular with those clubs that have been negatively impacted by it, a number of top-flight clubs have benefitted overall from the presence of the technology across the season.

That's according to ESPN, who tracked every VAR decision over the campaign to determine how every top-flight side was affected.

You can check out their final findings below.

Overall, 116 decisions were overturned by VAR in 2022/23 - with just four of those overturns being rejected by the on-field referee.

VAR will only overturn decisions directly relating to goals, potential penalty kicks, potential direct red cards and cases of mistaken identity.

Per the numbers, the worst affected sides by VAR in the Premier League were Manchester City and Brighton, with both being four key decisions worse off overall because of the use of video technology.

Ironically, though, neither will be that concerned.

Brighton enjoyed a stellar season, finishing sixth and qualifying for the Europa League for the first time in their history, while City eventually wore down Arsenal to claim their third Premier League title in a row.

Which Premier League sides benefitted most from the use of VAR during the 2022/23 season?

While rival fans often point out that Liverpool appear to live a charmed life when it comes to VAR, Jurgen Klopp's men were actually not the biggest beneficiaries of the video review system.

That distinction belongs to Brentford, who were six decisions better off overall thanks to the intervention of VAR.

However, Liverpool were joint-second when it came to teams positively impacted by VAR - alongside Fulham.

Both sides saw a positive impact of five key decisions apiece over the season.

Among those to come out statistically level in the VAR equation per ESPN's research were Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton - with the impact of positive and negative interventions by those at Stockley Park cancelling each other out.

How would the 2022/23 Premier League table have looked without VAR?

Separate to the ESPN study, the Premier League table without the existence of VAR has been compiled.

While the top four - and bottom three - would have remained unchanged, Aston Villa would have been 11 points worse off.

Ironically meaning that Brentford would have leapfrogged them to seventh place, securing a spot in next season's Europa Conference League as a result.

Read on to see the adjusted league table.

The Bees being denied a European adventure next season, though, is the only significant change that would have occurred in the final standings if VAR had not been in operation.

For as much debate as VAR has prompted over the last 10 months, its overall impact - at least on the Premier League - hasn't been quite as severe as you might have thought.