Sheffield United scratching heads over VAR failures v Fulham, Liverpool ahead of Chelsea test

Senior figures at Sheffield United have been left perplexed by VAR’s failure to intervene on two occasions, in their last two games, when two of their players have been grabbed by the throat by opposition men. The incidents in question occurred in last weekend’s 3-3 draw at home to Fulham and Thursday night’s 3-1 defeat at Liverpool.

The former saw Calvin Bassey, who was already on a yellow card, place his hands around the throat of United’s Gustavo Hamer after a coming-together between the two. On-field referee Tim Robinson failed to act and there was no visible VAR check for violent conduct.

The issue raised its head again in United’s next game, away at Anfield five days later, when Auston Trusty was marking Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk at a corner. Another clash between the two players saw van Dijk grab Trusty by the throat and referee Stuart Attwell stopped play after the American fell to the ground, but again no on-field action was taken and a review wasn’t instigated.

United predicted XI v Chelsea as Wilder faces big decisions

Earlier in the season Manchester City midfielder Rodri was sent off after grabbing former Blades loanee Morgan Gibbs-White by the throat in a game against Nottingham Forest. Gibbs-White did go to ground rather theatrically but there were definite other similarities between that incident and the two in United’s last two games, with the inconsistency raising eyebrows at Bramall Lane.

There was a time in the game when “raising your hands to an opponent” was almost always punished with a red card for violent conduct, defined as “when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball.”

Grabbing a player by the throat would certainly appear to fit that criteria - but has gone unpunished twice in successive games against United. Will it be a hat-trick against Chelsea? They may well feel they can take advantage of the new Premier League rule that permits such behaviour against Blades players, judging by the recent evidence...