What’s different for this Premier League season?

Sarah Rendell

21 Aug 2026 - The Guardian

1 Law changes

If a player uses more than five seconds to take a throw-in or goal-kick the referee can choose to reverse the throw-in or award a corner. 

If a player is injured and play stops as a result, they must leave the pitch for one minute unless a foul led to the injury. 

If there is a tactical timeout caused by a goalkeeper going down injured, the manager must choose another player to leave the pitch for one minute. 

Substitutions will also need to take just 10 seconds; if a player takes longer than that to leave the pitch, his replacement will not be able to come on for a further minute. 

Video Assistant Referees will now be able to intervene on second yellow cards if they have been shown in error. 

VAR will also be able to get involved where an attacking foul happens before a set piece is taken which leads to a penalty, goal or a disciplinary sanction. They will be able to order for the set piece to be retaken.

2 Managerial appointments 

There is a record nine new managers: 

Marco Rose (Bournemouth), 

Xabi Alonso (Chelsea), 

Pierre Sage (Crystal Palace), 

Álvaro Arbeloa (Fulham), 

Gary O’Neil (Ipswich), 

Andoni Iraola (Liverpool), 

Enzo Maresca (Manchester City), 

Matthias Jaissle (Newcastle) and Oliver Glasner (Nottingham Forest) 

3 Five big signings to watch 

Morgan Rogers: Aston Villa to Chelsea. 

Bruno Guimarães: Newcastle to Arsenal. 

Gonzalo García: Real Madrid to Fulham. 

Thomas Meunier: Lille to Sunderland. 

Elliot Anderson: Nottingham Forest to Manchester City.

4 New kids on the block 

Ipswich won promotion in 2024 before being immediately relegated the following season. Kieran McKenna brought the club back up but will not be joining them in the top flight, though, as he stepped down from his role and been replaced by O’Neil. 

For Hull, their last top-flight season was in the 2016-17 campaign and their first season in a decade will be overseen by the Bosnian Sergej Jakirovic, who steered them to an unexpected promotion last season.

Coventry have spent 25 years out of the top flight, and even dropped down to League Two, but have fought their way back, with Frank Lampard engineering their Championship-winning campaign.

5 Broadcast changes

Sky Sports and TNT Sports will remain the live broadcasters in the UK, with the BBC bringing highlights on Match of the Day, but there are some slight changes. 

The Premier League will allow on-field discussions between players and referees to be aired during live broadcasts. This will be trialled first and will not be present during the opening weekend. 

Match of the Day will feature new pundits in the shape of Thomas Frank, Toby Alderweireld, Robbie Keane and Ashley Young. The BBC will no longer be airing their fantasy Premier League podcast Fantasy 606.