Why this season’s Premier League matches are running ‘two minutes shorter’ than last season

Premier League referees have been told to be more lenient when it comes to stoppage time which has seen match times this season notably reduced after England’s top flight had the longest matches in Europe last term

Premier League matches have been notably shorter this season after referees were told to be more relaxed with their stoppage time.

The same pattern has been seen throughout the football league and last year England by far had the longest matches when compared to other major leagues around Europe. On average they were four minutes longer as referees put into place a new FIFA plan to be stricter on stoppage time.

There seems to have been a u-turn though with the average amount of stoppage time dropping from 11 minute and 35 seconds in the 2023-24 season to 9 minutes and 53 seconds this term, as per stats from Opta

The trend has continued into 2025 with matches seeing stoppage time reduce even further since the turn of the year, down slightly to 9 minutes and 49 seconds.

The change has, in part, comes after clubs and players’ unions took issue with the new increased playing time as they cited the increasing demands on players. Officials in England were instructed to wait for 30 seconds after a goal is scored before starting to add on time for celebrations or VAR delays, as per the Times.

Referees have been told to continue implementing a firm stance on time-wasting however and that has continued throughout the season. Often new directives are seen early on in a season before old habits begin to fall back into place.

Yet the percentage of yellow cards for time-wasting in the Premier League has dropped this season compared to last. There have been 100 yellow cards for time-wasting so far in 2024-24, which 8.5 percent of the total. That is compared to 172 last season, which was just over 10 per cent.

Arsenal have been among those to feel the new approach more than any with their willingness to push perceived boundaries costing them men and points. Twice they’ve seen players sent-off after they were hit with second yellow cards for delaying the restart. On both those occasions, against Brighton and Manchester City, they ended up drawing when they had been in winning positions.

Arteta has previously bemoaned the inconsistency, albeit that was at the start of the season with referees showing they are determined to continue with the new rule.

“If that happens throughout the game in a consistent way that’s fine,” said the Arsenal boss on Rice’s red card against Brighton. “But it didn’t happen. In the first half, there were a number of occasions where they kicked the ball away and nothing happened. It’s inconsistency and it’s in an area where it’s not critical.”

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