The English Football League have officially come to a decision regarding the potential use of VAR in Nottingham Forest’s upcoming Championship play-off semi-final against Sheffield United.
The Lowdown: A top-four finish
The Reds narrowly missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League, but were still able to successfully secure a play-off place after recording a fourth-place finish, where they will now face the Blades at Bramall Lane in the first leg of this crucial fixture on Saturday afternoon.
Just last week, The Telegraph claimed that all four teams who were still in contention to make the jump up to the top flight had been questioned over the use of VAR in the upcoming games, to which the response was overwhelmingly positive.
However, following a fresh update, it seems as though the clubs in question haven’t received the news that they were hoping for.
The Latest: VAR not in use
In a decision published in the last 48 hours by NottinghamshireLive, it’s stated that the EFL have concluded that VAR will ‘not be in use’ for any of the semi-finals involving Forest, Huddersfield Town, Luton Town, and Sheffield United.
The source goes on to say that it still ‘remains unclear’ whether or not this particular rule will be in place for the final at Wembley Stadium on May 29th.
The Verdict: Completely wrong decision
Not having VAR in use for one of the most important games of the season for the Reds is surely the wrong choice considering the number of matches that have been won and lost based on poor refereeing decisions this term - just look at the wrongly flagged offside decision against Sam Surridge at Bournemouth.
Manager Steve Cooper will already be familiar with the technology after it was used in Forest’s FA Cup game against Liverpool earlier in the campaign, and whilst it does have it’s pros and cons, clubs have generally been supportive of it’s use.
The east Midlands outfit will be making the trip to Yorkshire this weekend looking to gain a positive result and put one foot into that all-important play-off final at the end of the month.