VAR, schVAR: How the 2025/26 Premier League Table Looks Without the Blunders

Remember when Saturday afternoons weren’t spent waiting on squiggly lines and a bloke in Stockley Park? Well, here’s the next best thing: an alternative 2025/26 Premier League table stripped of the fan-identified VAR blunders that have had managers fuming and supporters howling. Using Squawka’s polls, we’ve mapped who gets clipped and who gets catapulted when those contentious calls are wiped away. For context: this model assumes penalties that “should” have been awarded are converted.

Headline takeaways? Arsenal still cruise, City still chase, Manchester United squeeze into the top three, and Bournemouth are your biggest fallers. Spurs hover, Chelsea’s luck doesn’t shift their slot, and Wolves remain rooted to the floorboards. If you fancy a flutter, scope the landscape with the best odds-makers via our guide to best betting sites before you call your shot.

Method in the mayhem

This isn’t PGMOL gospel – it’s a fan-powered audit. Squawka canvassed followers to flag “clear and obvious” misses in the big four categories: goals, pens, reds and mistaken identity. A penalty not given is chalked on as scored; marginal offsides and soft fouls are scrubbed from the ledger. Consider it a crowd-sourced correction of the season so far, accurate as of 25/02/2026.

The relegation dogfight (20th–15th)

20) Wolverhampton Wanderers – 10 pts (no change): Three calls went their way but nothing can rescue a return of 10 points from 28. Old Gold, same old problems.

19) Burnley – 18 pts (no change): One favourable call, zero movement. Scott Parker needs performances, not providence.

18) West Ham United – 27 pts (no change): One for, one against; the Hammers stay stuck in 18th. Nuno’s rebound meets reality.

17) Nottingham Forest – 27 pts (no change): One went against them, but the table barely blinks. Vítor Pereira’s side tread water.

16) Leeds United – 29 pts (down 1): The numbers say they’ve banked a couple they shouldn’t. Strip the help and they slide a spot.

15) Tottenham Hotspur – 30 pts (up 1): Four against, three for; a net nuisance. Even so, Igor Tudor’s Europa League holders inch up to 15th in this revision.

Bottom half movers (14th–11th)

14) Brighton & Hove Albion – 35 pts (no change): Four breaks for, two against. The Seagulls ride the waves. Side note: Fabian Hürzeler, appointed at 31, is the youngest-ever permanent Premier League manager – a heck of a punt with promise.

13) Bournemouth – 36 pts (down 5): The biggest beneficiaries of the real-world whistle – four in their favour, none against – tumble from eighth to 13th here. That sugar rush wears off quickly when you take the gadgets away.

12) Everton – 37 pts (down 3): Four against on the season by fan count, yet the corrected table still drops them three. A maddening cocktail of bad breaks and missed chances.

11) Crystal Palace – 37 pts (up 2): Four against, yet a two-place bump. Last year’s FA Cup winners steady the ship despite dips in form.

Top-half traffic (10th–5th)

10) Sunderland – 38 pts (up 2): Back in the big time and brimming. One call against them stung – a non-awarded pen versus Everton – and adding it sees the Black Cats climb even higher.

9) Fulham – 39 pts (up 1): Three for, four against overall, and they gain two points once the ledger’s cleaned. The flashpoint? Josh King’s disallowed strike at Chelsea for a supposed Rodrigo Muniz foul miles back upfield.

8) Newcastle United – 39 pts (up 3): Five against and plenty of frustration, not least Nick Woltemade’s denied spot-kick at Bournemouth that likely cost two points. The reset nudges Eddie Howe’s men into eighth.

7) Brentford – 39 pts (no change): Five against, two for, and still seventh. Keith Andrews has them humming regardless of the VAR noise.

6) Liverpool – 45 pts (no change): Six against, including Virgil van Dijk’s ruled-out equaliser versus City. The champions’ spluttering defence of the crown isn’t a technology story; it’s form and finishing.

5) Chelsea – 46 pts (no change): No team has had more go their way – six big calls, notably Eberechi Eze’s chalked-off goal against Palace – but even with the slate cleaned, they stay fifth and, intriguingly, land an extra point in this alternate tally.

The sharp end (4th–1st)

4) Aston Villa – 49 pts (no change): Five helpful calls on the season, yes, but Unai Emery’s lot are where they are because they’re a genuinely top outfit. The rerun keeps them fourth.

3) Manchester United – 50 pts (no change in rank; points +2): Six against, including the non-penalty for Amad versus Brighton. Managerial musical chairs or not, the tidy-up lifts United’s total and cements a top-three berth.

2) Manchester City – 56 pts (no change): Pep’s men remain comfortably second. Even with the margins massaged, the gap to top is still a proper chase.

1) Arsenal – 61 pts (no change): The Gunners stay serenely clear. William Saliba had an opening-day scare with Matheus Cunha, but take all the squabbles out and Mikel Arteta’s leaders still look the class of the field.

Pundit’s verdict

Strip away the stoppages and the season’s story doesn’t flip on its head – but a few truths bite harder. Bournemouth’s surge looks softer, Newcastle and Sunderland deserve a smidge more shine, and United’s scrap for relevance finds a little oxygen. As for the crown? VAR or not, it still looks a North London procession.

All information courtesy of Squawka – correct as of 25/02/2026.