PL clubs make decision on rule change that would disadvantage West Brom – report
Premier League clubs remain in opposition to re-introducing the five substitutes rule which is a move that would give West Brom an added disadvantage, according to The Daily Mail.
There have been calls from Liverpool and Manchester City to re-introduce the rule that was used during last season’s project restart as players are starting to pick up injuries due to the congested schedule this season.
But according to The Daily Mail, ‘most’ clubs in the Premier League are opposed to the move.
Sportsmail understands that despite there being ‘a swell of support from the top-flight’s elite clubs’, there is still ‘major opposition towards re-introducing the five substitutes rule’ from other Premier League clubs.
The report also states that the clubs in opposition to the re-introduction of the rule believe ‘it provides an unfair advantage to clubs with deeper squads’.
This is a valid concern as the elite clubs in the league will have an unfair advantage over teams with smaller squads like West Brom.
Albion aren’t blessed with depth and if a five substitutions rule was brought in it is doubtful that the Baggies would ever actually make five subs in a game.
This is in contrast to Albion’s next opponents in the Premier League, Manchester United. They played Everton at the weekend and Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Donny Van De Beek, Daniel James and Nemanja Matic all started on the bench.
With the five subs rule, all of these players would be allowed to come on meaning that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could essentially replace half of his team if he wanted to.
If the elite clubs are bothered about their players getting injured they should rotate their squads like every team before them has done when facing a lot of games in a short space of time. There is no need to give themselves yet another advantage over smaller clubs.
In other West Brom news, Slaven Bilic has given his verdict on the Tottenham defeat.
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