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Premier League 2022-23: Everything you need to know as new season starts

By Emlyn BegleyBBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section Premier LeagueLatest news and information 🤪😠😓 Premier League 2022-23: Everything you need to know as new season starts - BBC Sport919

New managers, teams, players and rules are in this season

The 31st Premier League season begins earlier than usual - Crystal Palace face Arsenal on Friday - as football tries to fit in a winter World Cup.

What is new this season, who are the new faces and how does the winter break work?

BBC Sport explains all...

New rules

The biggest change is that each team can make five substitutions a game, up from three.

The Premier League brought the rule in for the remainder of the 2019-20 season when football returned after the first Covid lockdown in 2020.

While most of Europe's other leagues - and Uefa competitions - kept five subs, English football went back to three.

Now five substitutions will be allowed from a bench of nine players. Teams have three opportunities to use their five subs - plus the option to make them at half-time - after which no more subs can be made.

Players will only take the knee before selected games now, previously the anti-racism gesture featured before every match.

Premier League clubs have been advised not to stop games for a medical emergency in the stands unless absolutely necessary.

Assistant referees have been instructed to only delay raising their flag for an obvious offside when there is an immediate chance of a goal and tight calls.

There will be enhanced searches outside stadiums and the use of sniffer dogs to cut down on flares and smoke bombs in games.

In another change, the Premier League will bring in in a multi-ball system to reduce delays when the ball is out of play.

There will be 10 balls in total - the match ball, one with the fourth official and eight around the pitch on cones next to a 'ball assistant'.

There are also provisions for games being postponed because of missing players, although the Premier League will assess each team's request on a case-by-case basis.

"Approval will only be granted where the impact of player unavailability on a club's squad is truly exceptional and where the club concerned has taken all reasonable steps to avoid the necessity to make the application," it says.

There is also a new ball...

View more on twitter

New teams

What are Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest fans' Premier League expectations?

Nottingham Forest are back in the Premier League for the first time in 23 years, since being relegated in 1998-99.

It took them 8,414 days and 1,069 league and play-off games to get back, beating Huddersfield 1-0 at Wembley in May. No team has spent longer in the Championship before returning to the Premier League.

The other two teams coming up have been in the top flight more recently.

Scott Parker and Fulham, who were relegated in 2020-21, are back in the Premier League now - but not together.

Nottingham Forest were the first team to win the European Cup and drop down to their domestic third tier

Fulham, under Marco Silva, made it five seasons in a row of bouncing between the Championship and Premier League when they secured promotion as champions.

Parker left Craven Cottage for Bournemouth last June and took the Cherries, who were in the Premier League until 2020, up in second place.

One familiar team will be missing, though - it will be the first Premier League season without Burnley since 2015-16. Norwich and Watford went down after only one campaign.

New managers

Erik ten Hag becomes the eighth person to manage Manchester United - including caretakers and interim bosses - since Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013.

The 52-year-old led Ajax to two Dutch doubles and a third Eredivisie title in his four and a half years in Amsterdam.

United will hope he can help them get back into the Champions League and challenge for a first trophy since 2017.

How Ten Hag made Ajax Champions League contenders

The other new manager is Welshman Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest.

The 42-year-old, who never played in England, managed England Under-16s and 17s before a two-year spell as Swansea boss.

He took charge at Forest in September, when they were bottom of the table and in the midst of their worst start to a season since 1913, and led them to promotion via the play-offs.

Parker and Silva have managed in the Premier League before, while Ten Hag was the only summer managerial change.

Michael Brown picks his Premier League top six

New players

There have been several big Premier League signings this summer, but all eyes will be on Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.

The £51m signing from Borussia Dortmund has scored more than 130 goals in club football and another 20 for Norway. He has just turned 22.

Another big deal saw Liverpool replace Sadio Mane, who left for Bayern Munich, with Benfica striker Darwin Nunez for £64m.

Tottenham signed Everton striker Richarlison for £60m, Manchester City sold striker Gabriel Jesus and defender Oleksandr Zinchenko for a combined £75m to Arsenal and Raheem Sterling to Chelsea for £50m.

City signed Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips for £45m, Manchester United brought in Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez and Chelsea recruited Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.

West Ham spent more than £60m on Rennes defender Nayef Aguerd and Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca.

Among the big names who left the Premier League are Alexandre Lacazette, Paul Pogba, Mane, Romelu Lukaku, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha.

The Football News Show: Will Man City retain their Premier League title?

New winter break

In a first for English football, there will be six weeks without a Premier League game this winter - as a result of the Qatar World Cup being moved to November and December.

There will be no Premier League football between 13 November and 26 December.

Teams are also expected to have more time between their Christmas games, although there will only be two days without matches between 26 December and 5 January.

The season starts a week earlier than last term - Friday 5 August - and ends a week later - Sunday 28 May - to fit that break in.

2022 World Cup chief Hassan Al Thawadi tells Dan Roan hosts 'ready to welcome the world'

Comments

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919 comments

  • Comment posted by fact not fiction, at 09:56 5 Aug

    All the extra balls to speed up the game time. Bet it has zero effect on how long extra time is given for certain teams! Start/stop clock like rugby needed!!

    • Reply posted by Magic Man Malignaggi, at 10:04 5 Aug

      Magic Man Malignaggi replied:
      I saw something years ago which said during an average match the ball’s in play for 50 minutes..

  • Comment posted by iComment, at 10:50 5 Aug

    var investigations should be limited to 30-45 seconds - if it's not clear in that time then it wasn't a clear and obvious error and ref's decision should stand

    • Reply posted by PreferNotToSay, at 10:58 5 Aug

      PreferNotToSay replied:
      Cricket is quite a complex game and yet I was watching the hundred last night and reviews were taking about 15/20 secs because of how slick the process was? So there are no excuses

  • Comment posted by Scotsman88, at 09:29 5 Aug

    a new season HYS = The Roast of Man UTD, Spurs lack of trophies. Man City oil finances and possibly a Big Sam would do the job

    • Reply posted by Laura, at 09:42 5 Aug

      Laura replied:
      😂

  • Comment posted by Mike Torrinos Cellphone Battery, at 09:49 5 Aug

    Amazes me that players need training on what harassment and assault is. Are they really so highly paid that they literally think they can do what they want?

    • Reply posted by EmC, at 09:57 5 Aug

      EmC replied:
      yes, in some cases....

  • Comment posted by sickbeggar, at 09:54 5 Aug

    Losing all enthusiasm for the season already with the 5 subs rule. That and the canned crowd noise was the worse things about lockdown football. If you cant cope with only 3 subs then you're not much of a manager frankly.

    • Reply posted by Ranger 1, at 10:03 5 Aug

      Ranger 1 replied:
      Yep. Another step closer to having 'specialist players' who roll on / off. It will be as boring and predictable as American Football soon

  • Comment posted by Magichat, at 09:25 5 Aug

    Why UTD keep getting the big headlines is anyones guess, small club, small ambitions. They will get no better than 6th, new manager by Christmas.

    • Reply posted by stevie, at 09:28 5 Aug

      stevie replied:
      Maybe because so many people like you can't stop commenting on them. Not a MU fan FTR.

  • Comment posted by wu-tang for the children, at 10:28 5 Aug

    BBC Punditry at its best! Utd will be second?
    Rob Green has obviously hit his head on the post one too many times!!!

    • Reply posted by Chris , at 11:38 5 Aug

      Chris replied:
      Rent free

  • Comment posted by footie fan, at 09:46 5 Aug

    Can only see another season of struggle for Man Utd.Are about 16 quality players short of a title challenge

    • Reply posted by Anfailed, at 09:53 5 Aug

      Anfailed replied:
      Don't worry then

  • Comment posted by Dad, at 09:25 5 Aug

    For some reason I feel city are weaker even though we got haaland.

    • Reply posted by stevie, at 09:29 5 Aug

      stevie replied:
      Hope not, you are my only hope in preventing pool winning it.

  • Comment posted by overthehill, at 11:41 5 Aug

    5 subs, just make big clubs even stronger... smaller clubs can,t compete when likes Man City Lpool, bring 150mill worth players off the bench... ruining football as serious competition.

    • Reply posted by john, at 12:06 5 Aug

      john replied:
      Need to put restrictions in place on the bench regarding having so many home grown players and at least one sub has to be home grown.

  • Comment posted by John_S, at 09:38 5 Aug

    A new ball - only been out three weeks - who will be the first to complain! Not time for them to practice with it. Also 5 subs is way too many turns English into American Football where you can almost exchange the whole team at half time.

    • Reply posted by Waseeacrim, at 09:42 5 Aug

      Waseeacrim replied:
      Not happy about the 5 subs rule....definitely favours bigger clubs with larger budgets.

  • Comment posted by Wish for something better, at 13:35 5 Aug

    Qatar, home of football. At least we know that there is no doubt that the WC was obtained fair & square. Every single family affected by work accidents are compensated. There are no gay people in Qatar but they are very welcome. There are 14 teams in Qatar that have been playing professional football for 10yrs! Small countries like Belgium & Netherlands have never hosted but Mexico have had two!

    • Reply posted by overthehill, at 13:39 5 Aug

      overthehill replied:
      🤣🤣🤣🤣

  • Comment posted by Viking, at 12:22 5 Aug

    We've heard all sorts of reasons why there's loads/no injury time. I remember one referee saying it's because 90 seconds are added on after each goal! Why make things up when it would be far easier to stop the clock when the ball is out of play. Then players whose teams are 2.1 in the 89th minute can roll around as long as they want after a sniper has got them

    • Reply posted by kingsley, at 12:27 5 Aug

      kingsley replied:
      Well said. And any “time wasting” would then only be possible through tactical skill and ball retention

  • Comment posted by Robert, at 13:25 5 Aug

    Away team should wear their normal home kit unless there is a genuine colour clash.

    • Reply posted by Mr B, at 13:31 5 Aug

      Mr B replied:
      Why

  • Comment posted by Mr Lion, at 12:26 5 Aug

    I still cannot imagine it... a world cup in Qatar. In the desert , with no history in football and probably none after, in a nation that does not acknowledge equality of rights and was built using slave labour.

    The 5 subs rule will benefit the biggest clubs. With all the hype surrounding Haaland you just know sod's law will see him injured in first game and out for the rest of the season.

    • Reply posted by PreferNotToSay, at 12:44 5 Aug

      PreferNotToSay replied:
      Look across the world...all the wonders of the world, landmarks and great civilisations. All built with slave labour to a great extent. Qatar is a strange choice and a winter WC is also weird...but I'll still watch it

  • Comment posted by Mr and Mrs Banks, at 09:36 5 Aug

    I can’t believe the BBC haven’t started an article on which PL manager will be the first to face the sack this season yet… they usually can’t wait to start costing someone their job.

    • Reply posted by stevie, at 09:39 5 Aug

      stevie replied:
      Do you wan't them too? Give you something to be outraged about?

  • Comment posted by iComment, at 09:55 5 Aug

    It will be interesting to see what ten hag can get out of the squad he has, assuming no further significant signings

    if he truly is a good manager then mu might surprise this season although a top 4 spot is probably the limit of their capabilities for now

    • Reply posted by Waseeacrim, at 09:59 5 Aug

      Waseeacrim replied:
      I don't think Ten Hag or Utd will surprise anyone this season....won't finish in top 5....but he has a massive job rebuilding Utd.

      Just surprised at the lack of signings.

  • Comment posted by Keith , at 13:28 5 Aug

    Somethings have not changed!!! After dragging LFC all ove rthe world for so called pre season friendlies Klopp is already moaning about the world cup and player welfare. Seems some clubs want have their cake and eat. Smacks of Hypocrisy to me.

    • Reply posted by Still England most successful club, at 13:32 5 Aug

      Still England most successful club replied:
      You're moaning about Klopp; some things never change.

  • Comment posted by Herecomesthesun, at 12:09 5 Aug

    I still can't understand how Qatar managed to secure the world Cup. I'm sticking to my initial thought that they put forward a good (brief) case.

    • Reply posted by Mark my words, at 12:18 5 Aug

      Mark my words replied:
      Yes not only is the UK going to hit around 13% inflation, Gianni Infantino's bank balance will be heavily inflated also without doubt?

  • Comment posted by Dangerous Dave, at 09:33 5 Aug

    I think this is going to be one of the closest seasons for a few years, I reckon that Spurs will be a surprise package, but people need to stop pushing ETH is the saviour of Man United as he needs time to bring in players and exsisting players to establish themself. If I was United I would offer Ronaldo and some change to bring in De Jong but hey I am not the manager. Good luck to all teams.

    • Reply posted by Mr and Mrs Banks, at 09:39 5 Aug

      Mr and Mrs Banks replied:
      Spurs will go Spursy, Conte will have a meltdown and rant about the owners. Then get sacked just after the World Cup.

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