FIFA consider offside rule change to impact Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham

VAR in the Premier League has been scrutinized heavily since it was first implemented with the offside law particularly high on fans’ controversy lists

A major change to the offside rule, advocated by former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, could soon be implemented in the Premier League.

There has been a plethora of controversy surrounding offside decisions in the Premier League in the last few seasons, with millimetres and toes being given as offside when lines were drawn by the VAR before those strict rules were loosened somewhat.

The current rules mean that a player is offside when any part of the body is closer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.

Wenger has proposed that the whole goalscoring body of the player needs to be offisde for the flag to go up. This would mean that if any goalscoring part of the body is behind the last defender, the attacker will remain onside.

This would have a huge benefit for strikers and cause teams to change the way they play the high line, with almost all of the goals in last season’s campaign that were ruled offside by VAR likely to be allowed under the new proposals.

It could, however, be some time before this comes into effect in England. The rule change will be first implemented in a trial period in the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy.

If successful it could be rolled out worldwide.

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