Just so you know, the Premier League had to make two VAR statements on Man United in a bizarre Ipswich incident because of….

 

Manchester United news as the Premier League address the VAR outage during the 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town

Premier League football returned this weekend after the final international window of 2024 and it wasn’t without VAR drama.

Manchester United secured a 1-1 draw away at Ipswich Town on Sunday evening in Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge of the club. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring inside the opening few minutes, but his strike was cancelled out by an outstanding goal from Omari Hutchinson before half time.

While there wasn’t any majorly controversial referee or VAR decisions during the game, the Premier League Match Centre was forced to make a statement before the break confirming the technology had been disabled for a freak reason. Anthony Taylor pulled the two captains aside to inform them VAR wasn’t operational due to a fire alarm sounding at Stockley Park.

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That was then followed by confirmation on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), as it was revealed the match would be operating without VAR until further notice.

Fortunately, the half time whistle blew shortly after and there were no incidents that required VAR’s intervention. United, though, were left frustrated they had their early lead slip after such a promising start.

Before the second half kicked off at Portman Road, the Premier League released a second statement confirming VAR was back up and running after the incident. The entirety of the second 45 minutes was played with the technology in use, but neither side found a much-needed winner.

United remain 12th in the league standings after 12 games, and sit 15 points behind leaders Liverpool. They are seven behind Manchester City, and six behind Arsenal as things stand.

Amorim will hope his side can secure the first win of his tenure when they face Norwegian side FK Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League midweek. Next weekend, they host Everton at Old Trafford in the league.