How the 2020/21 PL table would look if VAR wasn't being used this season

Another Premier League weekend has passed and it's another weekend dominated by VAR chat.

As you probably know by now, we here at GIVEMESPORT despise VAR and its interference into the beautiful game.

That's why, each week, we produce a league table imagining what life would be like without VAR.

To do so, we identify every overturned VAR decision from the previous weekend and speculate how it affected each game in question.

Remember, we're not correcting every wrong decision. If the on-field referee makes the incorrect decision and VAR sticks with it, then it doesn't come into our thinking.

For example, Mohamed Salah was given a penalty against West Ham by Kevin Friend. While VAR checked it, the decision stood meaning, without VAR, the decision would have been the same.

The same goes for Tariq Lamptey's goal for Brighton at Spurs. There was, quite clearly, a foul by Solly March on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the build-up but Graham Scott didn't give it. He then went over to the monitor to check it and, in a moment of history, stuck with his original decision. The ref deserves credit for not giving in to the pressure of the VAR - even though it was completely the wrong decision!

But there were several overturned VAR decisions during Gamweek 7 in the Premier League and we duly updated our league table accordingly.

Here's how it looks after the latest batch of fixtures:

1st | Liverpool | Points: 18 | Points difference: +2

Game: West Ham (H)

Incident: Diogo Jota’s 81st-minute goal was disallowed by VAR for Sadio Mane’s foul on West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Outcome without VAR (LIVERPOOL WIN): VAR looked to have denied Liverpool all three points by disallowing Jota’s goal but the former Wolves man scored a legitimate winner a few minutes later. Without VAR, his first goal would have stood and we can only assume Liverpool would have held on.

2nd | Tottenham | Points: 16 | Points difference: +2

Game: Brighton (H)

Incident: Spurs were awarded a penalty after Harry Kane was fouled by Adam Lallana in the 11th-minute. Graham Scott initially gave a free-kick before VAR overruled his decision..

Outcome without VAR (TOTTENHAM WIN): There's an argument that, if you chalk off Spurs' opener, they wouldn't have won the match. Okay, Spurs wouldn’t have been awarded a first half penalty without the help of VAR but given that was only the 11th-minute, we back them to have still gone on to win the match.

3rd | Leicester | Points: 15 | Points difference: 0

Game: Leeds (A)

Incident: VAR awarded Leicester a penalty in the 88th-minute for Mateusz Klich’s foul on James Maddison.

Outcome without VAR (LEICESTER WIN): Leicester were already 3-1 up and, without that late penalty, would still have won comfortably.

4th | Southampton | Points: 13 | Points difference: 0

Game: Aston Villa (A)

Incident: Ezri Konsa’s third-minute own goal was disallowed by VAR for offside against Che Adams.

Outcome without VAR (SOUTHAMPTON WIN): VAR may have denied Southampton a very early lead but they were still 3-0 ahead at half time and went on to win the match 4-3 anyway.

5th | Wolves | Points: 13 | Points difference: 0

Game: Crystal Palace (H)

Incident 1: Palace had a 38th-minute penalty ruled out by VAR for offside against Patrick van Aanholt.
Incident 2: VAR sent off Luka Milivojevic for his challenge on Joao Moutinho in the 85th-minute.

Outcome without VAR (WOLVES WIN): Wolves were already 2-0 up when Crystal Palace would have been awarded a penalty. Palace may have pulled it back to 2-1 but we still back Wolves to have won the match. Milivojevic would have avoided a red card without VAR but we don’t think it would have changed the outcome.

6th | Chelsea | Points: 12 | Points difference: 0

NO OVERTURNED VAR DECISIONS IN GAMEWEEK 7

7th | Aston Villa | Points: 12 | Points difference: 0

Game: Southampton (H)

Incident: Ezri Konsa’s third-minute own goal was disallowed by VAR for offside against Che Adams.

Outcome without VAR (SOUTHAMPTON WIN): VAR may have denied Southampton a very early lead but they were still 3-0 ahead at half time and went on to win the match 4-3 anyway.

8th | Arsenal | Points: 12 | Points difference: 0

NO OVERTURNED VAR DECISIONS IN GAMEWEEK 7

9th | Manchester City | Points: 11 | Points difference: 0

NO OVERTURNED VAR DECISIONS IN GAMEWEEK 7

10th | Everton | Points: 10 | Points difference: -3

NO OVERTURNED VAR DECISIONS IN GAMEWEEK 7

11th | Leeds United | Points: 10 | Points difference: 0

Game: Leicester (H)

Incident: VAR awarded Leicester a penalty in the 88th-minute for Mateusz Klich’s foul on James Maddison.

Outcome without VAR (LEICESTER WIN): Leicester were already 3-1 up and, without that late penalty, would still have won comfortably.

12th | Newcastle | Points: 10 | Points difference: -1

NO OVERTURNED VAR DECISIONS IN GAMEWEEK 7

13th | Crystal Palace | Points: 9 | Points difference: -1

Game: Wolves (A)

Incident 1: Palace had a 38th-minute penalty ruled out by VAR for an offside against Patrick van Aanholt.
Incident 2: VAR sent off Luka Milivojevic for his challenge on Joao Moutinho in the 85th-minute.

14th | West Ham | Points: 8 | Points difference: 0

Game: Liverpool (A)

Incident: Diogo Jota’s 81st-minute goal was disallowed by VAR for Sadio Mane’s foul on West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

15th | Brighton | Points: 8 | Points difference: +3

Game: Tottenham (A)

Incident: Spurs were awarded a penalty after Harry Kane was fouled by Adam Lallana in the 11th-minute. Graham Scott initially gave a free-kick before VAR overruled his decision.

Outcome without VAR (SPURS WIN): There's an argument that, if you chalk off Spurs' opener, they wouldn't have won the match. Okay, Spurs wouldn’t have been awarded a first half penalty without the help of VAR but given that was only the 11th-minute, we back them to have still gone on to win the match.