Brighton were denied a penalty against Aston Villa when Ibrahim Osman went down following a challenge from John McGinn. The referee waved play on and VAR chose not to intervene.

The Premier League's independent Key Match Incidents Panel later reached an unusual conclusion. By a 4–1 vote, it said a penalty should have been awarded. But the same panel voted 3–2 that VAR was correct not to intervene.

The distinction comes down to VAR's "clear and obvious" threshold. VAR is not there to replace every subjective decision with the decision it considers best. An on-field call can therefore be judged wrong without necessarily being wrong enough for VAR to overturn it.

That creates a fundamental question about what supporters should expect from VAR. Should video technology correct a refereeing error whenever the evidence points to a better decision, or does football need a higher threshold that leaves subjective calls with the referee?