Premier League forced into unprecedented mid-season rule change over 'unfair advantage' concerns

The Premier League have brought in a mid-season rule change to address concerns over an 'unfair advantage' in the division.

Premier League rules have been in the spotlight recently, with both Nottingham Forest and Everton receiving points deduction for breaches of the division's Profit and Sustainability regulations.

And in recent months, an in-play rule relating to the use of ball boys and girls has been placed under scrutiny.

According to The Telegraph, there are concerns that home teams are receiving an unfair advantage due to the existence of the 'multi-ball' system, which allows the ball assistants, as they are officially referred, to quickly throw a separate ball to a player after the in-play ball goes out.

And the Premier League have now updated their ruling to ban ball assistants from throwing the ball back to players, with balls now placed on cones instead.

It is said that as part of the ruling, players must 'collect a ball from the nearest cone' when going to take a throw-in, corner or goal kick.

The new rule is aimed at creating 'consistency' across all Premier League clubs, with ball assistants now being told to sit behind LED advertising boards while play is ongoing.

There have been a number of notable incidents involving ball assistants in recent years - not least the pass to Trent Alexander-Arnold to take a quick corner for Liverpool's fourth goal in their Champions League semi-final win over Barcelona.

The ball boy responsible for that was Oakley Cannonier, a forward who plays in the Reds academy and has represented England at four youth levels.

And who can forget Chelsea's Eden Hazard being sent off for kicking ball boy Charlie Morgan during a League Cup match against Swansea in 2013?

Morgan placed his body onto the ball in injury time at the Liberty Stadium, with Hazard then inadvertently kicking him as he tried to kick the ball instead.

Both apologised to each other after the incident, with Hazard actually reuniting with Morgan - who is on the UK Rich List through the success of his vodka brand AU Vodka - earlier this year.