Premier League Approves Five Substitutes for Rest of the 2019-20 Season

Premier League teams will be allowed to make use of five substitutes instead of the usual three when the season resumes, and this will stand till the end of the season after clubs reached an agreement on new rules.

The three substitutions have been regular since the 1994-1995 season, but for the rest of the current season, teams will be able to make five substituted and have nine substitute players on the bench instead of the usual seven.

The change was introduced by international football association board (IFAB) Football’s international law-makers, although not made compulsory as competitions can be decided to or not to have it, in the welfare interest of football players.

This was done as it was considered that when football resumes “matches may be played in a condensed period in different weather conditions, both of which could have impacts on player welfare”, according to the IFAB in May.

Meanwhile, despite the new rule, each team will have just three chances to make the changes in a game in a bid to reduce the disruption of the match.

The English Premier League is expected to return on the 17th of June after it was suspended in March due to the coronavirus crisis.

Fixtures for the first few rounds will be announced in the next coming hours albeit outstanding matches from March will be the first to be played as Manchester City, and Arsenal face off while Aston Villa against Sheffield United will be played as well.

Neutral venues will be used for some games while most games will still be played at usual venues while due to health concerns, only about 300 people will be allowed into the stadium for each match played.

Teams only returned to contact training in May, and there have been concerns about a possible increase in injury to players.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu