How have Premier League clubs been affected by injuries this season?

Injuries are rarely the solitary determiner of a team’s form, but they affect the line-ups managers are able to select and therefore the tactics they can employ.

Here we look into how Premier League clubs have been affected by injuries this season using data (up to November 13) from Premier Injuries, a website run by Ben Dinnery which records every injury that occurs across the Premier League by tracking incidence, diagnosis, and recovery.

Analysing this data has shown how some clubs have suffered more than others in terms of players lost to injury and Premier League matches missed, while a few have coped well with player absences to move up the league table consistently.

Which clubs have been hit the hardest?

It would make sense that teams which play more matches would end up with more injuries due to reduced rest periods and increased exposure to intense football. However, multiple factors, including shortened pre-seasons, international commitments and differences in training routines can influence player fitness.

Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea have played the most matches across all competitions (18) among Premier League teams due to European and Carabao Cup commitments. Chelsea, who have had an impressive start under Enzo Maresca, have had only six players suffer injuries, missing an average of four league games each.

City have suffered 11 injuries, with midfielder Rodri’s season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury the most prominent. City also lost Oscar Bobb in pre-season to a broken leg while Kevin De Bruyne (adductor, five games missed), Nathan Ake (hamstring, four games), Jeremy Doku (two separate muscular injuries), Savinho, Kyle Walker (both knee), Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias (both muscular) and John Stones (foot) have all missed time too.

The preference of City manager Pep Guardiola — who has spoken about his side’s injury issues — to have a small squad of quality to ensure ample playing time seems to have become an issue for City for the first time since the 2019-20 season when they lost the league title to Liverpool. The injuries have required him to make 26 changes across 11 league matches, the second-highest in the league, and he has named the same lineup in back-to-back matchdays just once — the first two fixtures of the season.

United have had to deal with 12 injuries, including long-term issues for Luke Shaw (calf), Leny Yoro (foot) and Tyrell Malacia (knee), who are all yet to feature in a Premier League game this season. With both first-choice left-backs out, United have used right-backs Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, and centre-back Lisandro Martinez in the position to varying degrees of success, though Mazraoui has been one of their best players this season.

Though these injuries were far from the cause of Erik ten Hag’s exit as manager last month, the Dutchman can feel a little unlucky to have missed out this season on using Shaw, Yoro and Malacia, who were all seen training under his replacement Ruben Amorim this week.

Total injuries and Games missed – Premier League 2024-25

Arsenal have played one match fewer than those three clubs, accumulating 1,530 minutes on the pitch. And like United, Arsenal have had to cope with injuries to full-backs Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) before the season began. Captain Martin Odegaard has just returned from an ankle injury that sidelined him for seven league games. Mikel Merino (shoulder) and left-backs Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Riccardo Calafiori (knee) have missed three or more matches each, while Tomiyasu is out again with a knee injury having played just six league minutes.

Arsenal’s north London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, have suffered 14 injuries with Son on the sidelines twice with hamstring issues, while Micky van de Ven (hamstring and knee), Richarlison (hamstring and calf) and Wilson Odobert (hamstring twice) are all in their second spells out.

The team hit hardest are Brighton & Hove Albion, with 19 different injuries. Solly March (ACL) is yet to play this term, while Matt O’Riley (ankle) and Joao Pedro (muscular) missed eight and six league games, respectively. Summer arrivals Mats Wieffer (muscular), Yankuba Minteh (adductor) and Brajan Gruda (muscular) have each missed three or more.

However, when considering the total number of league matches missed, Brentford match Brighton’s 67 despite enduring only nine injuries. Thomas Frank’s side have been without Igor Thiago (meniscus), Rico Henry, Joshua Dasilva (both ACL) and Aaron Hickey (hamstring) — all of whom are arguably starters. Yoane Wissa (ankle) and Mathias Jensen (calf) have missed three and five matches respectively too. Despite those issues, Brentford have made just 12 lineup changes in 11 games, the second-lowest in the league.

While Nottingham Forest have had the rub of the green in terms of total injuries (four), they, like Brentford, are dealing with long-term injuries to starting-calibre players in Ibrahim Sangare (hamstring, eight games missed) and Danilo (fracture, 10 games missed). However, their investments since returning to the Premier League and Nuno Espirito Santo’s ability to improve players has held them in good stead.

Similarly, Aston Villa and Newcastle United also entered the season with starters recovering from long-term injuries. Villa’s Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings and Newcastle’s Sven Botman all sustained ACL injuries last season. Kamara and Mings have since returned to action.

Newly promoted Ipswich Town, who have played the joint-fewest games across competitions with 12, have suffered 18 different injuries, resulting in 65 missed games. This will have been partly the reason behind them making 27 lineup changes across their 11 league games, the joint-highest with Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth.

Premier League 2024-25: Line-up changes by each team

Who have been the least affected?

West Ham United have struggled under Julen Lopetegui for a few reasons this season, but injuries cannot be seen as a major factor. While Niclas Fullkrug’s eight-game (and continuing) absence due to Achilles tendonitis has hurt the team, that is one of only three injuries they have had to contend with.

Fulham have had only four injuries and have made the most of it to sit seventh in the table while making the fewest lineup changes, just seven across 11 games, while fielding an unchanged lineup on a league-high five occasions. Sasa Lukic (shoulder) and Timothy Castagne (hamstring) are the only starters to have spent time on the sidelines, with Jorge Cuenca (ankle) and third-choice striker Carlos Vinicius (calf) completing the list.

League leaders Liverpool have also largely escaped major injury issues with seven after beginning the season with a fit first-team squad. Arne Slot’s players have missed only 25 combined league games with injury with Harvey Elliott (broken foot) and back-up winger Federico Chiesa (muscular) contributing to 13 of those.

Slot’s impact has been evident, but Liverpool have benefited from a largely clean injury slate in comparison to their title rivals.

How varied has the impact been?

While the number of injuries provides a glimpse of the difficulties teams have faced, the fixtures they have had to go through without key players suggests some have been hit harder than others.

Opta’s fixture difficulty predictor suggests Brighton had the toughest 11-run spell to start the season. Additionally, they have had to adapt to Fabian Hurzeler’s more intense style, with the team pressing higher than under Roberto De Zerbi last season while enjoying less possession (down to 53 per cent from 60 last season).

Brighton, the team hit hardest by injuries, have also had to take on all of the ‘Big Six’ in their first 11 games. However, their squad depth after spending in excess of £200million in the summer has helped them weather the storm and pick up 19 points to sit sixth with an easier run ahead (Southampton, Leicester City, Crystal Palace, and West Ham in four of their next six matches).

On the other hand, Wolverhampton Wanderers, handed the second-hardest start to the season, according to Opta, have struggled. Gary O’Neil’s team have had only eight injuries, but failure to replace Maximilian Kilman, who departed for West Ham in the summer, and a season-ending knee injury to his in-club replacement Yerson Mosquera in September have left them with the worst defensive record in the league. Wolves have already played all of the league’s current top six and will hope a kinder fixture list ahead — with games against Everton, West Ham, Ipswich, and Leicester to come in December — will help them move out of the relegation zone.

Arsenal, given the fifth-toughest start to the season according to Opta, have been hurt by injuries but they have also had to deal with three red cards — the most in the division. Two of those came in games without Odegaard (2-2 vs Manchester City and 0-2 vs Bournemouth), making their task tougher. Mikel Arteta’s side face Manchester United in early December but will close out the year with league matches against Everton, Palace, and Ipswich.