Coronavirus: Premier League to allow five substitutions

The Premier League will allow teams to make five substitutes during matches for the remaining games of the 2019-20 season.

It brings England's top flight into line with a temporary law amendment announced by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) last month.

World football's pre-eminent rule-making body made the alterations as a means to ease the strain on players returning to action following the extended coronavirus hiatus.

Clubs will also be able to name nine substitutes as opposed to the standard seven.

The Premier League is set to resume on June 17 with matches between Manchester City and Arsenal, and Aston Villa and Sheffield United.

Five rounds of coronavirus testing on players and staff have been conducted as part of Project Restart, with Tottenham returning the lone positive out of 1,197 in the latest phase this week.

For the remainder of the 2019/20 season, Premier League clubs will now be able to make substitutes instead of The maximum number of substitute players on the bench has been increased from to Full statement on these temporary rule changes: https://t.co/PKVveZclca pic.twitter.com/9B5PE404wG

— Premier League (@premierleague) June 4, 2020