Swansea City will have VAR in operation for their fourth round FA Cup tie against AFC Bournemouth tonight. The VAR adjudicators have been allocated to assist referee Darren England as the Swans take on the Cherries at the Vitality Stadium in Dorset under the lights.

The game is LIVE on S4C and also on BBC iPlayer. Fans looking for English commentary can also tune in to @Sgorio on YouTube.

The officials are -
Referee: Darren England
Assistant referees: Daniel Robathan & Daniel Leach
Fourth official: James Linnington
VAR: Thomas Bramall
Support VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis

As the Cherries are in the Premier League and are the home side VAR is permitted to be used. Had it been in Swansea then that wouldn’t have been the case despite the ground being fully operational to do so. We have already written about the cost that having no VAR for ‘that’ Manchester City FA Cup game a few years ago.

Click on this link for more —> ⚽️ Swans travel time and FA Cup VAR

A mid term study ( Feb 2023 ) on last seasons VAR decisions, an attempt to see what advantages are gained by bigger clubs revealed that Liverpool would have been six points from relegation and Manchester United well outside the top for in the Premier League. (Source:ESPN)

The bigger clubs most certainly get the roll of the straight line across a football pitch. Whether Bournemouth fit the role of a bigger club is down to opinion tonight. However, I’m sure they have their VAR stories as well at the hands of the Premier League officials miles away from the ground.

There will be team news later, and there is a lot of Swansea City injury news to report.

Photograph from Reuters Connect

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