Premier League rejects five substitutes rule but announces concussion replacements trial

[ASFN Admin]

Premier League clubs have again binned proposals to return to five substitutes, but teams will now be allowed two more players on the bench. Increasing the number of available replacements will help clubs prepare to trial concussion replacements which were given the green light by top tier shareholders. Like the FA Cup, England's top tier is taking the maximum allocation of two extra subs for each side if players suffer head injuries during a match. However, the Premier League is one of few competitions in European football to resist the five sub option, instead of three, due to the fixture pile-up caused by the pandemic On Wednesday, Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham expressed surprise that the clubs had returned to three replacements at the start of this season. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admitted recently that he "feels like I am on the only voice" in his bid to reintroduce five substitutions in the league. Outside the top six, few clubs were in favour of a return to the five sub rule introduced under Project Restart in the summer as they felt it gave the elite the edge. Thursday's meeting is the third - and probably final - time the proposal had been raised and rejected. However, in a small concession to ease the schedule burden this season, shareholders approved an amendment to Premier League rules to increase the subs on a team sheet from seven to nine. In contrast with resistance on five subs in the Premier League, the FA has been consistently keen to continue with increased allowances, which Ifab is now allowing until July 2022. Telegraph Sport disclosed on Wednesday how FA Cup matches could feature 20 substitutions under a combination of rule changes.

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