With the fixtures for the 2019/20 Premier League season having been released on Monday, most fans no doubt are excited and already eagerly anticipating the start of next season.
Tottenham will begin the season by welcoming newly promoted Aston Villa to their new stadium on 10th of August.
There have been several rule changes that have been introduced by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which will take effect at the start of the new Premier League season.
According to Sky Sports, here are the main changes that you need to know about:
1. VAR – Goals, penalties, red cards and cases of mistaken identity will be reviewed by a team of VAR assistants at Stockley Park, who will advise the on-field referee on his decisions. The referee will also be able to review decisions through a television screen on the touchline.
2. Handball – From next season onwards, a player need not deliberately move his arm towards the ball for it to be considered handball. If the arm is in an unnatural position (i.e outside a natural silhouette), then it will be called handball if the ball hits any part of the arm. Similarly, in attacking situations, if an attacking team gets an advantage due to an unintentional handball, then that will also be penalised.
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3. Substitutions – Players being substituted do not need to exit the pitch via the half-way line from next season, and will instead be asked to leave the pitch by the nearest point on the touchline.
4. Goal kicks – The goalkeeper need not wait till the players have left the penalty box to take the goal kick. As soon as the goal kick is taken, the ball is in play and opposition players can intercept the ball even if they haven’t left the penalty box yet. This rule has been changed in order to achieve a faster and more dynamic restart to the game’ from goal kicks.
5. Yellow and red cards – If the attacking team wishes, they can take a quick freekick as long as the referee has not begun issuing the card. The referee will then issue a yellow after the ball goes out of play. However, if the referee was about to send off the player who has given away the foul, then they will only receive a yellow card if the attacking team takes the quick free-kick.
Spurs Web Opinion
Most of these changes seem to be for the good as they will help speed up the game, and reduce the possibility of time wasting. However, the jury is still out on how VAR will be implemented as other leagues who have implemented the technology have had their fair share of problems this season.
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