Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta have frequently bemoaned injury problems this season, but title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal are actually better off than five Premier League clubs so far, new data has revealed.
City, who are bidding for an unprecedented fifth successive Premier League title, have slipped five points behind league leaders Liverpool after a comparably slow start, with Arsenal nine off the summit.
The Premier League champions have been without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who is out for the season with a knee injury, while Martin Odegaard has been absent for Arsenal for approximately two months due to an ankle issue.
Claiming City’s current injury crisis is the worst he has faced during his managerial career, Guardiola claimed his team were ‘in trouble’ in October.
Meanwhile, Arteta bemoaned Arsenal’s injury ‘nightmare’ following the Gunners’ hard-fought 1-1 draw with Chelsea earlier this month.
And yet, while the two sides have undoubtedly been affected by injury woes, data shows City and Arsenal both sit outside the top five when it comes to teams affected by availability issues.
Both Manchester City and Arsenal have been hit with injuries at the start of this campaign
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was out for approximately two months with an ankle issue
Meanwhile, Man City’s Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is out for the season with a knee problem
According to Premier Injuries, who tracked how clubs have been affected by the total number of injuries causing players to miss at least one match this campaign, Tottenham have been plagued more than any other side, as of November 13.
Ange Postecoglou has been without 13 players for at least one match this season, including the likes of captain Son Heung-min, Micky van de Ven, Dominic Solanke and Richarlison.
Closely following Spurs are Brighton and Ipswich, who have each been without a dozen players for one match or more, while Aston Villa and Crystal Palace come next with 11.
Although five teams sit higher than them in the table, City and Arsenal — who follow with 10 players missing for at least one match — will feel their gripes are justified given that table-toppers Liverpool have only suffered seven within the same metric.
According to the website, City are currently without Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Matheus Nunes, Manuel Akanji, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku and Nathan Ake.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s injury list is eight strong, with the likes of Ben White, Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Riccardo Calafiori, Leandro Trossard and Kieran Tierney currently registered as unavailable.
The lowest club on the table are West Ham, who despite enduring a difficult start to the campaign under Julen Lopetegui, have only lost two players so far.
Manchester United, who topped the table last campaign with a total of 45 players missed through injury under Erik ten Hag, have only lost seven so far ahead of Ruben Amorim’s first match in charge of the club.
But it is Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham who have been affected the most by injuries so far
Brighton (left) and Ipswich (right) closely follow Tottenham in terms of players who have missed one of more matches through injury this campaign – with 12 compared to Spurs’ 13
The Portuguese manager was handed a boost upon his arrival at Old Trafford as defenders Luke Shaw and Leny Yoro trained during his first session at Carrington, having both been injured since the start of the campaign.
During the session, Amorim appeared to select his strongest available team against a young opposition.
Amorim used a 3-4-3 formation during the majority of his 231 games in charge of Sporting and it appears as though he is keen to stick with that system.
His first test will be an away trip to Portman Road to face Ipswich Town on Sunday as the Premier League returns following the final international break of the calendar year.
