“This would be great for the league.”- Ralph Hasenhuttl appreciates change in Premier League rule

The Premier League has had 22 games postponed till now, either due to COVID or unavailability of players. While the postponement was appreciated by some clubs, it did not go well with many. Following the heavy criticism, the Premier League is now reconsidering changing its direction about match postponements.

Southampton manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl, during his press conference ahead of the Manchester City game, was asked about his take on the change of rules. The manager appreciated that the Premier League is looking over the rules and said that the postponement of games was not ideal.

“First, good that they [Premier League] look again over the rules. It is very important. I think everybody sees that the situation was not ideal for the league.

“Second, the new signings, it’s not so easy because some teams also lost some players in the transfer window. So the whole situation is different. We have some teams that have played 5 games less than others. So, difficult situation to change rules during the season.”

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Limited fixture dates to play postponed Premier League games

The Southampton manager adds that there’s only a certain limited amount of dates where the postponed fixtures can be played and hopes that the remaining fixtures will be played.

He says, “In the end, we all have to be clear that we only have a certain amount of fixture dates where we can play these games and they are getting less and less. So, we need to play every game that is possible and I think the easiest way would be if the COVID situation is gone but we don’t know if this happens and how it is in the future.

“It looks good that now we are running through the Omicron Variant and fighting back to normality. This would be great for the league definitely.

“We are still ahead of other leagues in Europe when I see German Football without supporters in the ground so we are in a very very privileged situation and hopefully it stays like this and hopefully we play every game now what is coming up because this is important also for the fans and the clubs”

Reports suggest that the new Premier League guidelines could be in place for 8 February.

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