Referees and VAR have been an issue in the Premier League this season, and the Premier League needs to do something about it. There have been numerous controversial decisions that most fans and experts are outraged about and that most believe were wrong decisions. Starting off, there was the controversy in the Liverpool vs. Tottenham game earlier in the season. This was a huge game, with both teams in excellent form prior to the game. There were two huge decisions in Tottenham’s favor during this game.

First off, the game started 1-1 with both sides scoring in the first half. Then, however, Liverpool scored to make it 2-1. This goal was then disallowed due to offsides, but the player, Luis Dias, wasn’t even offside. Most people agree that this should have been a goal, as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp came out and stated the game should be replayed, and also said “it’s really important that as big as football is, we deal with it in the proper way.” Then also Liverpool got a red card in the 69th minute that changed the game completely, allowing Tottenham to win the game 2-1. This also was blatantly not a red card.

This is just a needle in the haystack of bad officiating decisions this season, with the most recent controversy being in the Arsenal-Newcastle game, which Newcastle won 1-0. There were two things that could dismiss the Newcastle goal and show that it isn’t a goal: first of all, leading up to the goal, the ball looked to be out of bounds right before the player crossed it into the box, and even if that wasn’t the case, after it got crossed in, Newcastle player Joelinton pushed Arsenal Centre-back Gabriel down with his hands which allowed them to score. 

These ridiculous decisions are affecting a possible title race, with Arsenal and Liverpool both losing momentum in their fight against Manchester City. The premier league should be suspending or demoting referees as this shouldn’t happen at the highest level. An example of this is that the premier league recently demoted referee Anthony Taylor to the 2nd tier of English soccer, the championship. The premier league needs to double down on these decisions and take example of this demotion, and punish every referee equally that makes a bad decision.