Arsenal would be top of the Premier League without VAR

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Arsenal head into the international break second in the Premier League, but a recalculated version of this season's table would have the Gunners sitting top.

Mikel Arteta's side trail Manchester City, who remain unbeaten and have won every league game since the start of the campaign. Strip out the influence of VAR, though, and the picture changes.

Give Me Sport have produced alternative standings based on how the season would have unfolded had key decisions been left to the on-field officials, and in that version Arsenal move one place up into first.

How the alternative table looks

According to those recalculated standings, Brentford would occupy second place, having accumulated two more points than their current total.

City, meanwhile, would drop from first to third, with four fewer points than they have banked in the real table. That swing of four points for the champions is the single biggest change in the alternative standings, and it is enough to reshape the top of the division.

The exercise underlines how narrow the margins have been at the summit. A handful of goal checks, offside calls and penalty reviews across the opening weeks are the difference between Arsenal chasing City and Arsenal leading the way.

Arsenal have seen both sides of it

VAR has been part of the Premier League for the best part of a decade now, and Arsenal's relationship with the technology this season has not been one-sided. The Gunners have benefited from reviews at times and have also been on the wrong end of calls, with controversial incidents affecting their matches throughout the campaign.

That is worth remembering when reading any hypothetical table. The alternative standings are not a claim that Arsenal have been robbed of the lead, but rather a measure of how much the technology has moved the numbers for several clubs at once.

It is also a reminder that VAR's impact is not limited to the teams at the top. Brentford's two-point gain is proof that decisions made in one corner of the fixture list can ripple through the entire table.

What matters, of course, is the official standings, and those still show City unbeaten and Arsenal in second. The alternative version carries no points and changes nothing about where the Gunners actually sit heading into the break.

Arsenal have the international break to reset before the league campaign resumes, with the real table — and the real gap to Manchester City — the only one that will decide the title.