Love it or hate it, VAR is here to stay.
Fans and teams will always feel that the video replay system is out to get them and that decisions over the course of the season favour the opposition. But is that really the case?
With the Premier League season over, football.london has taken a look at how VAR decisions affected Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham throughout the 2021/22 campaign.
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Arsenal
Arsenal found that over the course of the season, VAR helped them more than it was a hinderance.
Across the 38 Premier League games, VAR intervened and overturned 14 decisions. The Gunners found that it handed them six goals and chalked off two, while correctly handing them four penalties and pointing to the spot for the opposition twice. It worked for and against them in the 3-2 defeat against Manchester United when it stuck with the decision on the pitch to give Emile Smith Rowe's goal when goalkeeper David de Gea was down with an injury from his own player.
That same match however, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty which was given by VAR when Martin Odegaard fouled Fred. In the reverse fixture, VAR once again balanced itself out for and against Mikel Arteta's side in the same phase of play. First it disallowed Eddie Nketiah's goal for offside but it picked up a foul on Bukayo Saka by Alex Telles which allowed the England winger to score from the spot.
No Arsenal players were sent off after intervention from VAR while their opponents had one player sent off. Six subjective decisions went in favour for the Gunners while two went against.
Chelsea
VAR popped up in Chelsea's season quite early on, handing Liverpool a penalty and sending defender Reece James off.
Mohamed Salah scored the ensuing penalty as the game finished 1-1, the Blues being forced to play the second half with 10 men. But as the season progressed, not only did VAR even itself out but it ended up working in favour for Thomas Tuchel's side. Against Norwich on October 23, a penalty was awarded after replays showed a handball on Mathias Normann.
When Mason Mount missed the spotkick, it was ordered to be retaken when goalkeeper Tim Krul encroached and Mount found the back of the net. Overall, three VAR decisions leading to goals and three wiping them away while Thomas Tuchel's side had three penalties given after the replays intervened and were given two against them.
But two opposition players were sent off due to VAR, while the Blues had no one dismissed due to video replays.
Tottenham
Tottenham qualified for the UEFA Champions League and it would be remiss to say that VAR did not play a major role.
While Harry Kane and Son-Heung min's goals, coupled with the arrival of manager Antonio Conte, got the club over the line and ahead of Arsenal in the race for fourth place, Spurs were on the right side of VAR calls. Whether it was Kane's goal being correctly given against Newcastle United after it had been originally ruled out for offside, or replays correctly calling Hugo Lloris not fouling Richarlison for a penalty and later sending off Mason Holgate, video replays helped Tottenham.
Even in games that they won, like the 3-2 win over Man City at the Etihad Stadium, VAR ruling out a Kane goal due to Dejan Kulusevski being offside and then awarding City a penalty for a handball against Cristian Romero, Riyad Mahrez tucked it away, it didn't end up costing the club in their quest for top four.
While Spurs did have three goals taken off the scoreboard due to VAR and only two given, they had four subjective decisions given over the course of the season and only one against. Conte's side also had no players sent off due to VAR and saw two opposition players shown a red card after VAR played a role.
