Premier League set to introduce five substitutions 

Premier League clubs are set to make a U-turn on Thursday and agree to five substitutes being permitted from next season.

The issue is due to be voted on again by the top-flight clubs at a Premier League stakeholders meeting in London after several previous attempts over the past two years to increase the number of replacements were defeated.

Although the bigger clubs were in favour, there was strong opposition from the smaller and mid-sized teams who believed it would give an advantage to the squads which have greater strength in depth.

The Premier League is the only major league in Europe to restrict the number to three but club sources say there is high confidence that there is now enough support for it to be increased to five, with nine players allowed on the bench.

The decisive factor has been the International FA Board (Ifab), the game’s law-making body, making the five-subs option a permanent rule.

Recent meetings of Premier League club captains and managers have also debated the issue and there has been broad support among them for the increase.

There has also been a lot of data collected from the other leagues around the world which have been using five replacements over the past couple of seasons.

The Professional Footballers’ Association has also been pushing hard for the increase. Maheta Molango, the PFA chief executive, said English teams would be in a weaker position in important European matches if their players were more tired.

Speaking in Doha before the Fifa Congress he said: “Our position is clear. It is a situation that should never have been a debate in the first place because it’s a player welfare issue.

“In the global market if all the other leagues have five subs and we have three that means we will be in a worse position when it comes to the big games. We want need to start thinking more collectively and think that if our teams are thriving in Europe that is a good thing.”