DARREN ENGLAND will return to the Premier League VAR hotseat for the first time in seven months this weekend.
England was moved out of the limelight following his huge blunder in the match between Tottenham and Liverpool last September.
But it has now been announced the 38-year-old will be back on VAR duty for the West Ham versus Fulham game on Sunday.
Wade Smith will be the VAR assistant for the London derby, while Stuart Attwell will lead the on-field team with assistants Harry Lennard and James Mainwaring and fourth official Michael Salisbury.
In England’s last match as VAR on September 30, he disallowed a perfectly legal Luis Diaz goal for offside that would have changed the outcome of the match that ended 2-1 to Spurs.
Footage released afterwards showed how England had incorrectly communicated a “check complete” decision to on-field referee Simon Hooper.
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It reveals VAR officials England and assistant Dan Cook drew the lines showing that Diaz was onside, with an indication given by the officials that the check was complete.
However, the officials then realised play had resumed without the correct decision being made.
Assistant video referee Cook then backs this up by saying: “That’s wrong Daz”.
Upon realising the error, England be heard saying: “Oh ****.”
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England was stood down in the weeks that followed to take the pressure off him, before he was eased back as a fourth official for the October 23 game between Brentford and Burnley.
PGMOL bosses have been careful to ease him back into matches since then, with only six Premier League appointments in the last two months, including this months clash between Manchester City and Aston Villa.
He was back at Stockley Park’s VAR hub for two FA Cup ties, including Bournemouth vs Leicester in February, with Michael Oliver acting as VAR support on both occasions.
The Premier League announced yesterday that it would be introducing semi-automated offside technology from next season.
However, England’s blunder ultimately came from a communication issue rather than tech, so the move will not be able to fix the types of errors that were seen in north London in September.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
