Story byWill CastleSun, January 18, 2026 at 8:41 PM UTC·3 min readEverton were mixed up in even more VAR controversy when Jake O’Brien saw his header ruled out against Aston Villa, despite the Irishman being clearly onside. In a first half which saw both sides hit the woodwork at Villa Park, Toffees defender O’Brien thought he had given his side the lead when he latched on to James Garner’s cross, only for his joy to be cut short when he saw the linesman had raised his flag. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe decision was then checked by VAR, with replays showing it wasn’t O’Brien that was standing in an offside position but was instead teammate Harrison Armstrong, who had leapt for the ball but not connected. The on-field decision was nevertheless stuck with after review, with the Premier League Match Centre confirming the officials’ reasoning on X.“The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Armstrong interfered with an opponent’s ability to play the ball from an offside position,” it said, arguing that Armstrong jumping for the ball impacted defending Villa player Emi Buendia. PGMOL’s official rules for an offside player interfering with an opponent requires a player to be penalised if they clearly obstruct a player’s line of vision, challenge an opponent for the ball, clearly attempt to play the ball, or make an obvious action which impacts the ability of the player to play the ball. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHowever, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp argued that the decision was very much debatable, saying: “Everton fans I’m sure will be furious watching that.“He (Armstrong) definitely gets himself in the middle of the box, is he going to get it? Buendia definitely isn’t going to get it.“But then it looks like his (O’Brien’s) header is just a good one. He’s too strong for him.