Incident by incident: Was it a bad weekend for VAR in the Premier League?

Before this weekend, the numbers on VAR in the Premier League looked unusually healthy. The Key Match Incidents Panel, which reviews every contentious decision and votes on whether it was right or wrong, had logged just two VAR errors across the first eight rounds of the season. At the same point last year the tally was six.

Then came a round in which almost every top-flight game produced a disputed call. BBC Sport went through most of them, though it says there were too many to cover all, and tried to judge which ones the panel is likely to add to the error column.

The clearest likely mistake came at Arsenal, who beat Hull 1-0. Kai Havertz was pulled down in the area by Nobel Mendy. VAR Michael Oliver sent referee Farai Hallam to the pitchside monitor, but the penalty was not given because Havertz had been offside. BBC Sport's reading is that the foul came before any offside offence, so the penalty should have been awarded. However odd it feels to reward a player in an offside position, the law says otherwise, and the panel is likely to log an error.

The second is at Everton, who beat Coventry 3-1. Coventry's Caleb Yirenkyi appeared to have his hair pulled inside the area by James Tarkowski, with no penalty given. The interpretation of hair pulling was relaxed this season, so it would not be a red card, but BBC Sport saw a yank of the hair and expects the panel to call it an incorrect decision. Two other Everton moments are less clear. Vitalii Mykolenko's clip on Taiwo Awoniyi came just before the line, so no penalty is the likely verdict. Thierno Barry's 61st-minute goal was checked for handball, and the VAR found no conclusive evidence. Yet there appears to be a deviation, and BBC Sport thinks the goal probably should have been ruled out. The VAR did not have the super-zoom tool, which takes a few minutes to calibrate and is not available instantly, so the panel might not support an intervention. The same applied to a Crystal Palace goal against Nottingham Forest, and BBC Sport expects a split vote.

At Leeds, who beat Tottenham 1-0, Jayden Bogle fouled Mathys Tel. Referee John Brooks gave a free-kick but no card, and VAR Tony Harrington did not send him to the monitor. It was a hard call because Bogle caused the foul with his supporting foot rather than his challenging one, though it was a painful challenge and some think it was a red card. The outcome may depend on which former players sit on the panel, since ex-pros are split.

Most other incidents are expected to be judged correct. Manchester United's 4-4 draw with Aston Villa included a 16th-minute penalty for Boubacar Kamara's foul on Matheus Cunha, where replays showed first contact on the Brazilian's foot. It also included Patrick Dorgu's 96th-minute equaliser, after possible contact by Senne Lammens on Zion Suzuki. With a higher bar for intervention and minimal contact, not disallowing it is unlikely to be ruled an error.

Elsewhere, Igor Thiago's red card for Brentford at Brighton, where he caught Chema Andres's head with his forearm, may seem soft, but the law treats a strike to the head as a red unless the force is negligible. Crystal Palace's stoppage-time penalty against Liverpool, for Milos Kerkez's foul on Dario Osorio, was more of a 50-50 clash than last season's Saliba-on-Pedro case and might be called an on-field error short of the VAR threshold. Cole Palmer's penalty appeal at Sunderland has no conclusive evidence of initial contact inside the area. Newcastle's goal at Fulham was rightly ruled out for Yoane Wissa's foul on Timothy Castagne, despite Matthias Jaissle's perplexity afterwards.

BBC Sport's tally is two near-certain errors, the Arsenal and Coventry penalties, and two possible ones, Barry's goal and Bogle's challenge. That means two to four errors in a weekend, which it calls not a good one. The panel's votes will settle the number.