Football’s schedule has definitely become more packed in recent years, especially with the rise of international competitions, club commitments and commercial interests.
Players in the top half of the Premier League can be involved in league matches, domestic cup games, European competitions and international matches, resulting in a more intense schedule.
Fixture congestion can lead to burnout, injuries and decline in performance, which have been prominent narratives for the 2024-25 Premier League season so far.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke with Sky Sports about how an increasingly busy calendar will soon lead to an injury problem for all clubs.
He said: “We have more games than ever in this calendar, the number of injuries we’ve had has today made me reflect that you need a squad of 25-30 players.”
But which club has suffered the most from this injury crisis so far?
Premier League teams are ranked by the number of injuries that have caused players to miss at least one game this season. At the time of writing, Brighton top the injury table, tied with newly promoted Ipswich Town with 17 injuries. Arsenal and Tottenham follow with 16 injuries each, with Manchester City ranked sixth with 14 injuries to date.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, West Ham have had the fewest injuries leading to player losses with just five. Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have had eight and six injuries respectively.
As for the Merseyside teams, current Premier League leaders Liverpool have suffered 11 injuries, while Everton are among the teams with the fewest player losses, counting just nine injuries.
In light of this current injury “crisis” in this Premier League season, as well as which teams have suffered the most injuries, a key question would be which team has been left with a longer absence of injured players?
The graph above illustrates the number of days lost to injury by Premier League clubs. Brighton is again on top with 17 injuries totalling 638 days, making their strong start to the campaign even more impressive.
Ipswich are at the top end of this scale as well, with 530 days lost, adding to the already difficult task of staying in the division. Crystal Palace have also been hit hard by injuries this season with 444 days missed.
On the other hand, in terms of days lost to injury, Liverpool and Everton are sixth and twelfth respectively, with the Reds on 382 days lost and the Toffees with 287 days.
Along with being the least affected team by total injuries, West Ham is also at the bottom of this scale with 141 days lost due to injuries. Chelsea and Bournemouth are also among the teams losing the least days, with 234 and 227 days respectively.
It is also important to determine which type of injuries have been most common among players this season.
Among the injuries sustained so far, the most common have been hamstring injuries and general impact injuries, with 47 and 45 cases respectively. Other muscle injuries, knee injuries (excluding ACL) and ankle injuries are among the other reasons why Premier League teams find themselves with unavailable players this season.
In contrast, the injuries that have been less frequent up to this point are back injuries with seven instances (dark green section of the chart), head and shoulder injuries with five cases (red section of the chart) and finally toe injuries with only four players suffering from them (dark red section of the chart).
Liverpool and Everton are currently without three players each due to injury. A general impact injury has sidelined Kostas Tsimikas while Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley are out due to a knee and hamstring respectively. Toffees’ injuries include Youssef Chermiti and Tim Iroegbunam sustaining foot injuries, and James Garner suffering a back injury.
