Premier League decision makers are said to be considering a semi-automated offside system for next season. Currently, offside calls are from the referee’s assistants and VAR are only supposed to intervene in the event of – the now famous line – “a clear and obvious error.” Several dodgy VAR calls have sparked debate in recent weeks and brought frustration to players, managers and fans during the opening fixtures of the new Premier League season. In Brighton’s last match, fans were left fuming from an Alexis Mac Allister thunderbolt – one of the best goals ever witnessed at the Amex Stadium – was chalked off for a marginal offside in the build-up. Fortunately for Albion, it did not impact the result as they won 5-2 against a struggling Leicester team on what turned out to be Graham Potter’s final match in charge for the Seagulls before heading to Chelsea. The use of digital lines when making tight offside decisions has been the source of most frustration but the Premier League are now looking to tweak that process, according to fresh reports in the Times. Brighton are said to be among nine teams in the Premier League – Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, Arsenal, Southampton and Nottingham Forest – to have the basic Hawkeye infrastructure which would then allow for easier installment of the equipment required. It sends an alert to a VAR official when a player is offside and uses tracking technology and artificial intelligence to make instant decisions. It’s far more efficient than the current set-up and final decisions can be made within a second. It should, in theory, improve the viewing experience for fans in the stadia and prevent celebrations from being cut short. Which is one of the most frustrating aspects of the current system and one BBC presenter Gary Lineker said, “Is sucking the life and enjoyment from the game.” The new system has already been used in the Champions League and is set to be introduced at the Qatar World Cup later this year. Premier League are due to have the opportunity to vote on the new technology after the World Cup and if it passes, it could be rolled out across the Premier League in time for next season.