Why more added time in the Premier League, and what are the rules? Why could there be more yellow and red cards?

Similar to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 2023/24 Premier League season is set to have more time added on at the end of matches.

The Community Shield between Manchester City and Arsenal on Sunday originally saw eight extra minutes added on. But it was in the 101st minute that Leonardo Trossard struck to equalise for Arsenal before the Gunners won the match on penalties.

In the English Football League (EFL) on Saturday, the average time added in a match was 16 minutes and 34 seconds.

There will also be tougher measures to combat bad behaviour. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was booked during the Community Shield for waving an imaginary yellow card after reacting angrily to a foul by Rodri on Kai Havertz.

But why will there be more added time at the end of matches this season and why will referees be stricter than in previous years?

Speaking exclusively to TNT Sports, Professional Game Match Officials Limited chief refereeing officer and former Premier League referee Howard Webb explains all...

"There are two focus areas going into the new season. One is around participant behaviour, the other is effective playing time. Going into the new season we are doing things a bit differently in terms of how we calculate the time that needs to be added at the end of each half.

"That's a requirement from the International Football Association Board and FIFA due to a change in the laws of the game that we have to add time more accurately throughout the world, not just in the English game. They've added the words around goal celebrations having to be added on at the end of the game and the general focus around more accurate calculation.

"What we saw at the World Cup and the feedback FIFA got back from that tournament was positive. As a result of that they lobbied the international board for some changes and that is now coming through to us and other competitions around the world as well.

"You will see more time on the board usually because we are going to be calculating how long it takes from a goal being scored to the game restarting and how long substitutions take.

"Instead of using a general rule of thumb of 30 seconds like we traditionally did, we will be adding on the actual time that is lost through the events, including penalty kicks as well as red cards."

"We are not just going to be spectators as people celebrate for three minutes or as substitutes take a minute and a half to walk off the field. We want to be proactive within the 90 minutes to try and get the game to restart as efficiently as possible, and also deal with those participants who act in a way that is designed to waste time or to delay restarts or to interfere with the possibility of free-kicks being taken quickly.

"That is going to be the focus on us using the tools that we already have within the game to ensure those actions are penalised appropriately.

"We need to do that consistently across all of our games that we serve and not only in weeks one, two and three, but throughout the season and every season as well."

"We anticipate that the amount of added time will settle down a little bit. We saw some big numbers this last weekend [in the EFL]. The officials were pretty keen to apply precise and accurate calculations in certain areas that we talked about.

"They're also adding time for yellow cards and other certain situations to ensure that they were doing what was right to create a fairer game. We think it will settle down and players will modify their behaviours and restarts will happen more efficiently.

"Those numbers will come down a little bit and officials will settle down into what they're doing as well. Hopefully the game will be fairer as a result.

"We're expecting, based on the information we saw from last season where we had eight-and-a-half minutes on average added time in the Premier League, that number to rise to about 11 or 11-and-a-half minutes, but depending on match events. Not a crazy amount of additional time as we move into this early part of the season and beyond.

"We're hoping to stop the trend [of more added time]. Not only to increase expected playing time but also in terms of dealing with those time-wasting tactics that frustrate people. A team goes 1-0 up away from home and does everything possible to take every bit of time out of the game and to slow things down, stop free-kicks, kick balls away.

"They are the sort of things we think if we deal with consistently players will modify their behaviours and we will see a better game as a consequence."

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