Premier League 2024: New season begins with exciting talents and new shining stars

New Delhi: It’s almost near the start of the season, as the Premier League kicks off with Manchester United hosting Fulham in the first game of the tournament. This is a season to look forward to, with quite a few changes in rules and teams as well. 19 teams are looking to dethrone the reigning champions Manchester City who will be aiming a fifth Premier League win this season.

There are some changes made to the VAR functioning, handball, and even injury time. The competition will serve fans with an ultimate football experience. Premier League have taken down lessons from last season when matches saw huge delays and pauses in between the game.

VAR Rules, blocking and Handball

Perhaps the biggest change in the new season is the criteria for which the VAR will be used. The “referee’s call” system means VAR will only intervene if there is an obvious error from the on-field official. This means that there will be less stoppage time, with most on-field decisions being the final word. Premier League have made an account on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) that will be giving explanations for VAR decisions on an almost live match pace. There will be more projections of replays and explanations for decisions in the stadium as well.

There will be a drop in the stoppage time as well, with Howard Webb, the chief of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), stating that the referees will allow a 30-second period after a goal is scored for celebration. It is being seen as helpful to reduce delay in restarting the game.

Stricter penalty have also been implied for players for blocking and obstructing oppositions at a set-piece. On the other hand, handball law has been eased down for players to move less rigidly with their hands by their sides or behind their back. Unintentional handball will also not result in offence.  The idea is to have less harshness on handball penalties. For penalties the ball must be on or hanging over the centre of penalty spot. Encroachment from a player into the box whilst the penalty is underway will only be penalised if it makes an impact. Also, five substitutes can now warm up at the same time on the touchline, which earlier was three.

Selection of the Referee

For the first time the policy to inform which officials are chosen to officiate games in the Premier League has been published. Webb has said that this will increase the transparency for viewers. It will allow the policy behind appointment more available to fans. 

There were some confusion earlier on after Webb’s comments about the transparency but PGMOL have clarified the orgainzation the allegiances of official in its organisation won’t be made public. The move obviously comes after a lot of controversies regarding referees were raised in the last season. Stuart Atwell was alleged to be a Luton Town fan by Nottingham Forest after the club’s 2-0 loss in Everton. Atwell was the official on Video Assistant Referee duty during the game and it didn’t go well for the side.

Webb spoke on the matter and stated that they ask their officials to declare their conflict of interest in regards to a match, before the start of a season and if their interests change as the season progresses. According to Webb now, the appointment policy will be made public and show how the declarations look.

Ipswich- A surprise Premier League appearance

Oneof the biggest surprise regarding promoted teams was the appearance of Ipswich Town who last appeared in the competition back in 2002. Their squad has very little exposure to playing in Premier League and are being led by a sprightly manager Kieran McKenna. Their top three goal scorers Conor Chaplin, Nahan Broadhead and Omari Hutchinson have a total two Premier League appearances between themselves. Left-back Leif Davis having made 18 assists last season made two appearance for Leed in the top tier of English football. Their captain Sam Morsy will be making his Premier League debut.

They have some exciting transfers in their squad with Hutchinson, who was on loan from Chelsea last season, made £20m transfer this season to Ipswich, a club record. Former Manchester City forward Liam Delap also comes to the club for a fee of £20m on a five-year deal. Their other summer acquirement are Jacob Greaves from Hull, Ben Johnson from West Ham and Arijanet Muric who was the keeper for Burnley. Of the other two, Southampton are returning to the competition right after being relegated in the 2022-23 season having remained unbeaten in 25 games from last September to February. Leicester City are on their third manager since April 2023 and are in a good chance of being relegated back again this season.

New season new Faces

A number of managers are taking charge of a new Premier League side which includes Arne Slot in Liverpool, Russell Martin in Southampton, Fabian Hurzeler in Brighton, Enzo Maresca for Chelsea and Kieran McKenna ar Ipswich. So many of these teams are going to deploy a new tactic as they take on the field.

Whilst this hasn’t been the busiest transfer season, there still have been some major transfers that will effect the respective clubs. Leny Yoro comes to Manchester United in £52m from Lile, though he will miss the majority of the season due to a foot injury. United have also acquired Joshua Zirkzee for £33.7m, whilst Bayern Munich defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazroui will come to the club for a combined fees of £60m. Manchester City have brought Savinho for £30.8m from their sister club Troyes while Arsenal have recruited Riccardo Calafiori who has been in an excellent touch in more recent times. Chelsea have made quite a few inductions to their team with Marc Guiu and Filip Jorgensen. Only team who haven’t made any transfer in the summer for players will be Liverpool.

 A new season starts with quite a few changes to the rules and the team structure. Here’s a look at how this season will look like.  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today