Burnley chief Dyche ‘still a believer in VAR’

Burnley manager Sean Dyche has re-iterated his support for VAR and believes the system will soon become widely accepted. Dyche admits he was frustrated by a decision to disallow what would have been an equaliser for New Zealand international Chris Wood in the late stages of Burnley’s 2-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday but believes the glitches will eventually be eradicated from the VAR process.
The use of the video assistant referee has, to say the least, not gone smoothly in the Premier League this season and Premier League referee chief Mike Riley apologised in September after four mistakes had already been made at that point.
More controversial calls have been made since then but it is not all bad with VAR, which successfully overturned a wrong offside call from the linesman in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United on September 30, meaning Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal was given.
There were always going to be teething problems with the new system, which has already been rolled out in the top European leagues over the past few seasons, and Dyche has provided his backing for the technology to come good. “I was happy with my words afterwards but it was such a soft one and we saw over the weekend other soft ones that weren’t given,” he said at his weekly press conference ahead of Saturday’s visit of Chelsea. “We’re just looking for that balance. I’m still a believer in VAR, I think it’s a good thing and I think eventually it will be more streamlined because of the advances in technology and the human side of it.”
Burnley play host to Chelsea on Saturday and the Clarets are set to be without Danny Drinkwater, who is injured but would not have been eligible to face his parent club anyway, while Wood is a fitness doubt and Johann Berg Gudmundsson is definitely out due to a hamstring injury picked up on international duty.