Webb backs VAR decision after Botman foul on Jackson in Premier League clash

Howard Webb said Sven Botman's challenge on Nicolas Jackson during a Premier League match on Saturday was a "high-end reckless challenge" but supported the video assistant referee's choice not to overturn the on-field yellow card to a red. Villa secured a 1-0 victory, Johan Manzambi scoring in the 36th minute.

Referee Jarred Gillett booked Botman for the 18th-minute challenge on Villa striker Nicolas Jackson, ruling it a reckless foul despite the defender getting a touch on the ball. Reportedly, the contact was made with Botman's trailing leg as he went over the top of the ball. Gillett said: "I think it's reckless. Even though you get a touch on the ball, it's still reckless." Jackson reacted after the game: "I know the referee said yellow card but it was so high and hopefully maybe next time a red card, but it was a yellow," Jackson said after the game. "I nearly broke my leg, but anyway, it's part of football."

The VAR, Stuart Attwell, reviewed the incident and opted to support the on-field yellow because there was "no secondary scissor action" and the contact was "not with the studs". Webb said the on-field decision would have stood regardless of whether Gillett had shown a yellow or a red card.

Speaking on Match Officials Mic'd Up, Webb addressed the balance between robust play and player safety, saying "robust tackling" is "part of the English game" but that referees retain "a responsibility to ensure players' safety". He described the challenge as perceived on the pitch as reckless and acknowledged the speed with which Botman approached the ball.

Webb outlined the VAR role in adjudicating such incidents, saying: "We don't want the referee's decision to be re-refereed by the VAR. We want the referee to have ownership of the decision and the VAR to only step in when there's an element that's clearly wrong." He added: "So if the VAR had seen strong stud contact from Botman's extended leg into the ankle or shin of Jackson, or there had been a closing of the scissor, I think we'd have probably come out with a different outcome after the VAR had looked at it."

He also noted the process if a red card had been given, saying: "Equally, if that had been a red card, for sure it would've been check complete by the VAR as well. So, it's a good example really of how the referee's call is working in the Premier League this season. "A lighter-touch approach: let the referees referee the decision and the VAR step in when there's something clearly really wrong."

After seven rounds of Premier League fixtures there have been 21 VAR interventions, nine of which were classed as subjective; at the same point last season there had been three interventions with zero subjective. The Premier League Key Match Incidents Panel has judged one VAR intervention this season was wrong — Manchester City's offside winning goal at Manchester United — and one incident was missed to award a penalty to Arsenal at Aston Villa, compared with four errors for missed interventions after seven rounds last season.