What Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has already said about VAR as debate intensifies

This season's ever-present debate around the use of VAR in the Premier League reached a new high on Sunday as Nottingham Forest slammed officials for decisions made in their defeat to relegation rivals Everton.

The club accused Stuart Attwell of being biased in making decisions during the match, claiming that he is a Luton Town supporter, in a shocking social media post from the outfit's official account following full-time. Forest had three penalty appeals turned down by referee Anthony Taylor with the on-field decisions endorsed by Attwell in the VAR hub.

Nottingham Forest posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn't change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options."

The outburst has sent ripples through the Premier League, but not for the first time. For Arsenal supporters, the VAR debate is one the club and manager Mikel Arteta has been centre of this season.

The Spaniard famously lambasted VAR after his Arsenal side was defeated by Newcastle United in November. Arteta was charged by the FA for his comments as he branded VAR's decision to not rule out an Anthony Gordon winner as 'an absolute disgrace'.

The FA classified the outburst as 'misconduct' and 'insulting towards match officials'. Arteta had said: "You have to talk about how the hell did this goal stand up? Incredible. I feel embarrassed. I have to now come in here and try to defend the club and please ask for help because it's an absolute disgrace that this goal is allowed. An absolute disgrace."

The club backed Arteta's fury and issued a statement the following day saying the club "wholeheartedly" supported the manager’s comments. It read: "The Premier League is the best league in the world with the best players, coaches and supporters, all of whom deserve better.

"PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) urgently needs to address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanations and apologies."

It wasn't the first time this season that Arteta had shared hesitancy over VAR. The manager was asked for his opinion on the system after Liverpool were issued an apology for wrongly ruling out a goal against Spurs in September.

Asked if he has sympathy for Liverpool, Arteta replied: "For sure, you know at the end you want to get what you deserve. You want to minimise errors that you cannot control away from the work and the job that you do on a daily basis.

"Everybody is trying to have a really clean and honest game but in the end, you have to earn the right to win it and play in the conditions that the rules allow. When that doesn’t happen it’s extremely frustrating.

"When they explain all the processes of what they’re trying to do it sounds really logical, but in the heat but when you’re talking about millimetres and interpretation of other things like the frames of the camera it’s very, very different. It’s a shame that it’s happening but at the moment we haven’t got the right answers I think."

Arsenal were left angered by VAR again in December when Aston Villa beat the Gunners. Arteta blamed two 'clear and obvious' errors from referee Jared Gillett in the game, which VAR refused to overturn.

Arteta was tight-lipped with his frustration, given his recent charge at the time, but said: "That's what I mean, clear and obvious. That's my opinion, that's all I can say."

Despite his frustrations with VAR, even after the Newcastle incident, Arteta has remained consistent in backing VAR's existence in the game. In December, the manager was asked if he thought the system should be scrapped and said: “No, I think we can improve it and we are trying to do that.

“All those things that are happening I think are probably necessary to improve it and we have to take it that way. It has been a big change. Technology is taking a huge responsibility in games and it needs time. If we use it the right way, we are listening to people, we are open, we are humble and we are trying to be constructive, I think we will get to a really, really good place.

“I have sympathy with all my colleagues because I know how beautiful and how challenging the job is. Those moments in front of the camera are not easy ones. You see that in many, many situations already this season as well as last season. We’re here to make the game better and make clubs better. We all need to win to do that.

“It’s a topic that comes up for sure. We talk about many things but that's one of those as well because at the end it has a huge impact on results and our job depends on that.”

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In February, before Newcastle United visited the Emirates Stadium, Arteta was asked for his latest opinion on VAR. The Spaniard claimed that standards had improved since his rant following the reverse fixture.

He said: "Well that is what we all wanted. That at the end the decisions are better and I think the last stats that came across show that there was a significant improvement. And a lot of the decisions they were getting right, so hopefully that is the case and we continue to do that.

"I talked the way I felt. I was very straight and I did it in a way that was pretty strong but within the law because I didn't get charged for it and I think that tells the story."