The handball rule is set to undergo another change heading into the new campaign after referees announced new guidance.
Officials will look to cut down on the awarding of 'soft penalties' during the 2024-25 season by showing leniency when the ball changes direction.
Last season fans were often left confused about the handball laws amid a string of harsh penalty decisions.
Mounting controversy led to calls to address the rules, especially in scenarios where players may struggle to get their hand out of the way in time.
Now the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) group have responded to growing frustration, with former referee Kevin Friend giving an interview to Sky Sports today to clear up the new guidance.
The handball rule is set to undergo another change heading into the new campaign after Kevin Friend announced new guidance
Last season there was much confusion over the handball rule with some potential infringements missed, including Jack Grealish against Chelsea in the FA Cup
The 53-year-old said: 'We saw some soft penalties last season for handball so if it's a clear directional movement from the ball from the foot to the hand we're not going to be penalising that.
'We're basically looking for examples where it clearly hits the arm unjustifiably, hands above the head, away from the body, to deliberately block the ball from going into the box or into the goal.'
Friend also revealed a new interpretation into the laws surrounding jostling in the penalty area.
Ahead of this campaign, referees will be told to bear in mind how far the incident is away from the ball.
The former referee said: 'One of the things we love about English football - the Championship, League One, League Two - is the physicality. We don't want to take that out.
'We understand that teams do block when the ball is coming out. There's an element of holding. We understand there's going to be mutual holding - we're not going to intervene with that.
'What we're looking at are the clear holding offences that impact the ability of the attackers to get onto the ball.
Others saw managers left angry with 'soft penalties', including Gary O'Neill's frustration with a foul given against Wolves's Joao Gomes against Luton
Manchester United were awarded what was considered by many a penalty at Bournemouth after the ball struck Adam Smith
Referee Anthony Taylor was in charge of the Euros quarter-final between Germany and Spain and his decision not to award a penalty to Germany for handball was criticised
'If the defenders' actions are to deliberately bring the player down by holding him, sustained, impactful, then we're going to penalise that. The more away from the ball, the more severe it's got to be.
'We saw a couple of examples last season of defending players rugby tackling attacking players 15 yards away from the ball and actions like that, non-footballing and extreme, we would look to penalise.
'It's what we did last season but more of an approach of "What is the impact? What are the intentions of the defensive player? What are the actions of the attacking player?"'
Referees have been briefing all league clubs ahead of the new season as they look to start afresh following a season riddled with officiating controversies.
Only two Premier League referees remain in UEFA's Elite List, the highest tier for referees: Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver.
And Taylor was at the centre of an officiating saga in the Euro 2024 match between France and Netherlands this summer.
The Dutch side felt that they could, or perhaps should, have won the game after Xavi Simons beat France keeper Mike Maignan with a sweet low strike from 15 yards midway through the second half.
Taylor did not award a penalty after the ball struck the hand of Spain's Marc Cucurella (right)
Xavi Simons thought he had broken the deadlock for his side with a strike from the edge of the box against France only to have it ruled out by Taylor and his VAR team
One of the assistant referees immediately flagged for offside as Dutch defender Denzel Dumfries was deemed to be interfering with play.
The match was then delayed for well over two minutes as the VAR team sought to conclude whether that was the correct decision in scenes reminiscent of various incidents throughout the Premier League season.
He and his VAR team later enraged German fans for failing to award the hosts a penalty for handball against Spain's Marc Cucurella in their quarter-final defeat.