Referee Association Bars Lee Mason From VAR Duty After Blunder At Arsenal

The Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) has barred Lee Mason from VAR duty in this weekend's fixtures as punishment for failing to spot an offside for Brentford's equaliser against Arsenal on Saturday.

Mason, a former on-field Referee, was in the eye of the storm for not applying the lines which would have shown Christian Norgaard in an offside position before assisting Ivan Toney's equaliser.

The mistake of VAR Mason was  described as a "human error" by PGMOL in an apology to Arsenal who were on course to extend their lead at the summit of the league table.

When the upcoming weekend appointments for Premier League games were announced on Tuesday, Mason was not among the officials taking charge of VAR, making it the second time this season that he has been dropped.

The first time he was sidelined was when he disallowed a goal for Newcastle in their home match against Crystal Palace on September 3.

Mason's removal follows the removal of John Brooks from Monday's Merseyside derby and Wednesday's crucial match between Arsenal and Manchester City.

VAR Brooks chalked off Pervis Estupinan's goal against Palace for offside which a review of the replay proved to be a wrong decision.

The VAR system revealed that the offside lines had been put in the wrong place and that he (Estupinan) had, in fact, been onside.