Arsenal have suffered two VAR mistakes against them, while Brighton and Wolves have both been on the wrong side of decisions three times – but who has been the MOST affected side this season?

By Dominic Hogan For Mailonline11:13 GMT 08 Feb 2024 , updated 12:46 GMT 08 Feb 2024

• Arsenal and Liverpool have controversially released statements against VAR 
• Aston Villa have profited from the most mistakes going in their favour this term 
• Do true fans leave games early? Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast 

Arsenal, Wolves and Brighton are among the most affected teams by incorrect VAR decisions this season – but one team has seen as many as four calls go against them this season, according to reports.

VAR is one of the more controversial topics in football, with the technology polarising supporters as a result of frequent errors, long delays, and lack of communication with fans.

This season there have already been a number of high-profile mistakes, notably the decision to rule out Luis Diaz‘s goal against Tottenham back in September for offside, despite a review showing him in fact being on.

As Mail Sport revealed in January, Premier League referees will now be allowed to explain VAR decisions to fans from the start of next season, after receiving the green light from law-makers.

While most teams have seen decisions go against them this term though, there is one team that perhaps has a right to be more aggrieved than most.

According to ESPN, Liverpool have fallen afoul of four separate calls that have gone against them, including that decision to rule out a perfectly legitimate Diaz strike earlier this campaign.

Behind Jurgen Klopp’s side are Brighton and Wolves, who have both seen three calls go the other way, while Arsenal are third on two.

Some eight clubs have also been victim of one incorrect decision, meaning more than half the clubs in the league have had mistakes against them from VAR.

On the flip side, Aston Villa have in fact been the biggest beneficiaries of mistakes from the technology – ESPN’s report finds that three mistakes have gone in favour of Unai Emery’s fourth-placed side.

Each of Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest have benefited from two mistakes as well.

Both Liverpool and Arsenal have previously been open in their complaints against the technology after calls went against them.

The Premier League’s chief of football Tony Scholes responded , saying: ‘It doesn’t help when they have to go public with a statement when we are talking regularly. We consult with managers already and have two meetings a year and a squad visit.’

However, Scholes was quick to point out that the experience for fans in the grounds was ‘nowhere near good enough’, while also claiming that the officials need to be ‘trained up to a level’ to ‘communicate things effectively to the crowd’.

‘It’s nowhere near good enough,’ Scholes said of the in-stadium experience. ‘We know it’s not, it affects supporters enjoyment of the game, and we know it needs to change. We are constrained by the IFAB as to what we can and can’t say both during the VAR process and post the VAR process.

‘We cannot use the audio, we cannot play the audio [live]. My personal view is we’re on a journey and we’ll get to a point where both the video and the audio is played live, and then played afterwards to explain the decision. How far away from that? I don’t know. That’s not in our hands.

‘One development that we are expecting to come in imminently, of course, is that the referee will announce their decision, post VAR review, to the crowd on the pitch side.

‘We need to ensure that our match officials are trained up to a level to enable them to communicate things effectively to the crowd.’