VAR being introduced this Premier League season will be the biggest source of drama

It’s dubbed by millions as the greatest sporting show on earth but there’s a huge change for this new Premier League season and it stands to bring the most drama.

Liverpool fans cheer other team in a packed stadium during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Sevilla FC at Fenway Park in Boston on July 21, 2019. - Around 34,500 fans attended the match. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)

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It’s the return of what many view as football’s greatest show on Earth – but much of the drama may come away from the players.

As the English Premier League kicks off this weekend with Norwich’s trip to Liverpool, this will be the first time many fans see a host of rule changes come into effect – and also the introduction of VAR to the EPL.

Nine key changes to the rules of football came into effect on June 1, and some have the potential to change elements of the game. Most notable is the change that means a goalkick doesn’t have to leave the penalty area to be in play, allowing teams to play out from their own goalmouth – and attackers to press equally close to goal.

Attackers are unlikely to be impressed by the change to the handball rule, by which accidental handball in the build-up to or scoring of a goal by a member of the attacking team will in most cases cause it to be disallowed – a change with the potential to cause even more controversy around an already contentious topic.

What will VAR do to the quality of the Premier League?

Among the other tweaks to the laws, attackers cannot force their way into a defensive wall; drop balls will return possession to the team that had it before play was stopped; coaches can get red and yellow cards; and substitutes will have to leave the field at the nearest point.

But by far the biggest shadow is the introduction of VAR to the Premier League, when its use in the FA Cup has already proven highly controversial.

Liverpool will kick the new season off against Norwich

EPL bosses have taken counsel across the world in a bid to make it as pain-free an introduction as possible, but there are elements to their interpretation which appear sensible in theory but more problematic in practice.

They include more a more generous view of what constitutes deliberate handball, and the expectation that the referee in the centre will generally take the advice of the VAR, rather than check decisions on the pitchside monitor.

Whether experienced referees are willing to take the word of the VAR – including on some weeks, Australian Jarred Gillet on the VAR panel – remains to be seen.

But the EPL has sensibly instructed stadiums to use their big screens to make explicit when a VAR check is going on, and what for – as well as play an appropriate replay that explains why a decision has been overturned.

Originally published as VAR being introduced this Premier League season will be the biggest source of drama