The officials have been confirmed for Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.

The Premier League is back and so are the controversies as Liverpool had an early handball appeal turned down by Anthony Taylor despite Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi appearing to deliberately palm the ball away from Hugo Ekitike as he looked to break through on goal.

The Premier League Match Centre on X quickly revealed the reasons for VAR’s support of the referee’s decision, writing: ‘#AVLNEW – 65’ The referee’s call of red card to Konsa for the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO) was checked and confirmed by VAR.’

The Premier League announced several rule changes for the 2025-26 season, including updated regulations for VAR. The Premier League kicks off its 2025-26 campaign on Friday, August 15, with reigning champions Liverpool taking on Bournemouth at Anfield.

Football is a constantly evolving sport, with the rules changing and adapting to the modern game. This season, the Premier League will adopt a number of changes already put into place during the FIFA Club World Cup.

Premier League referees' chief Howard Webb has suggested the video assistant referee system could be expanded to include yellow cards and corners.

Premier League referees are likely to award more penalties this season in a tougher response to players who grapple and hold opponents in the penalty area.

More Premier League games will be shown on TV than ever before as the league’s new broadcast deal, agreed back in December 2023 and worth £6.7bn, takes effect.

The Premier League gets started on Friday, and with it comes a series of tweaks to the laws and how the games will look.