Next month the Premier League takes one of those slightly disruptive and marginally irritating breaks so international fixtures can be played. Nothing new there, of course, it happens several times a season.

However, there is something new this time – hotel quarantine.

These new rules introduced by the UK government last week mean that people entering the UK from a ‘red list’ of around 30 different countries have to lock themselves up in a hotel for 10 days on arrival.

How on earth is that going to work with international football?

English clubs have players from just about every country on the planet on their books. A large ­– very large – chunk of these overseas players are from red list countries like Portugal and Brazil.

Are these players going to go away, represent their countries and then be forced to isolate in a hotel for 10 days on their return? That is going to cause some major, game-changing disruption.

Many of the top teams could be without key players – and international level players, by definition, tend to be relatively key – as they enter the business end of the season.

There has been some talk of an exemption for these players and I believe the football authorities have actually asked for one. But how can that be justified? These players are going to be travelling through airports, riding on planes and buses and staying in hotels with players and staff that are not in their club bubble. With so many COVID variants now running around, allowing these players to skip hotel quarantine is simply a risk not worth taking. Anyone who catches any form of the illness would be exposing their club bubble and the families associated with it to potential harm. Not an option.

The only other alternative is that the players themselves turn down the chance of playing for their country. But not only is it unfair to force them to make a ‘club vs country’ decision, the international games themselves will end up being diluted, reserve matches.

I know some of these internationals at the end of March are proper qualifiers and not just friendlies, but I really think it would make sense to postpone this break, bring the leagues forward by a week and squeeze the internationals in a later point in the year.

There is already another round of international games scheduled for the beginning of June. So why not extend that by a bit and play them all at the same time – without any pointless friendlies to clutter up the schedule.

With the roll-out of vaccines well underway, this is not the time to be taking unnecessary risks. Risks that could ultimately costs lives.

Crying foul

Here’s something that’s preying on my mind.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a lot more players than usual in the Premier League committing foul throws. I don’t know why that is; maybe it has something to do with the cold weather perhaps, and an abundance of, ahem, chilly balls.

With so many COVID variants now running around, allowing these players to skip hotel quarantine is simply a risk not worth taking

But it did get me thinking. Why, when a player commits a foul throw, is it automatically awarded to their opponents?

In my opinion there is absolutely no advantage to be gained for taking a foul throw, yet for some reason football’s rules don’t allow the offending team to have another crack at it.

Why should they, you ask.

Well, when a player messes up taking a free kick the officials let them have another go at that, don’t they? If a team tries to take a quick free kick but the ball is still moving or if they try to take the kick from the wrong spot, then the referee pulls play back and they try again.

Yet apparently foul throws are deemed so unforgivable that the perpetrators must be punished without question or redress.

I think we need some consistency here.

Either teams get another crack at foul throws or, when a team does something wrong from a free kick, it is automatically awarded the other way.

That’ll shake things up a bit…

City looking ominous

I watched a little bit of Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Everton on Wednesday night and only one word sprung to mind: Wow.

They are absolutely relentless, aren’t they? Their passing, possession and intensity are on a whole different level.

Pep Guardiola has certainly turned around their early season indifferent form in the most spectacular fashion.

And the depth they have is quite fearsome. I mean, bringing on Kevin De Bruyne as an 80th minute substitute is just terrifying for opponents.

Wednesday’s win took them 10 points clear at the top of the table and the title is 100 per cent theirs to lose now.

And it also made it a record 17 victories in a row. On current form I certainly wouldn’t bet against them making it 18, 19, 20…

Double jeopardy nonsense

I read something last week that left me feeling rather dizzy.

According to the article, as the rules stand right now, if a player deliberately commits a foul that leads to a penalty, then that player can only be booked.

However, if the player accidentally commits a foul that leads to a penalty being awarded, then that player should be red-carded.

This apparently has something to do with the concept of double jeopardy.

I’ve asked around and nobody seems to know if this is 100 per cent accurate. So if anybody out there knows, please drop me a line.

I need to clear this up because, if it’s true, then this is quite possibly the most stupid interpretation of a rule in the history of sport.

email: james@quizando.com
twitter: @maltablade