Chelsea are the most injury-prone club in the Premier League, according to injury data from the past three seasons.
Analysis of figures from Premier Injuries, for clubs continuously in the league from 2021 to 2024, showed that Chelsea averaged 9.5 injuries per 1000 minutes. The next highest injury rate was at Newcastle United and Everton, who both averaged 8.8 injuries per 1000 minutes.
At the other end of the scale, West Ham United and Manchester City had the lowest injury frequency, averaging 5.3 injuries per 1000 minutes. Arsenal and Wolves were not far behind with 5.4 injuries per 1000 minutes.
Chelsea particularly suffered during the 2022/23 season, averaging 10.7 injuries per 1000 minutes and their players missed a total of 1,836 days due to injury.
This could have been the result of long-term burnout, with the Blues racking up a remarkable 5,790 minutes played in the 2021/22 season – the highest of any English team in the last three years. This included a midseason trip to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup.
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Newcastle’s squad struggled to cope with the demands of their Champions League campaign in 2023/24 and had a severe injury crisis in the winter of 2023. That season, the Magpies lost players to injuries for a staggering 1,950 days, the highest total from any of the past three seasons.
Everton’s injury rate largely correlates with their form during 2021 to 2024: bad. The Toffees will be hoping their turnaround under David Moyes is mirrored in the medical room, given West Ham’s success in that department.
Everton managed to just about avoid relegation in recent seasons, and we will analyse later whether injury frequency plays a role in how the final league table ends up.
The role of fixture congestion
At the highest level of football, it seems like more clubs than ever before are suffering from an injury crisis at any given point of the season.
As Charlie Mills, a sports scientist at Wolves and formerly Fulham, points out: “Injury risk massively increases when going through a congested fixture period.”
The higher intensity of the sport, combined with an increasingly crammed football schedule, has led many within the game to see a higher frequency of injuries as inevitable.
Manchester City’s Rodri raised the prospect of players going on strike against the schedule, only for the Ballon D’Or winner himself to suffer a season-ending ACL injury.
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However, given the technological advancements made in all aspects of the sport, do new recovery methods offset the increasing strain being placed on players bodies?
Interestingly, there does not appear to be a strong correlation between total minutes played and the frequency of injuries. Manchester City and West Ham have the joint-lowest injury rate despite both ranking in the top five for minutes played.
City and West Ham had long European journeys which ultimately resulted in success, but it would appear Pep Guardiola and David Moyes engineered methods to maximise the availability of their squads.
Liverpool, who played the most minutes of the last three seasons (15,570), ranked in the middle of the pack with an incidence of 7.1 injuries per 1000 minutes. As we can see from the scatter plot, there is no clear trend.
This suggests that other factors such as squad rotation and style of play may play a larger role in injury prevalence than simply exposure alone. However, acute fixture congestion does have the capacity to influence injuries, such as around the Premier League’s busy Christmas period.
“Players are at greater chance of soft tissue injuries or overuse injuries because of the repeated nature of performance, without giving sufficient time needed to recover and refuel,” says Mills. “Time must be given to allow recovery in order to benefit player development and career longevity, as player burnout is also on the rise with an increased number of fixtures.”
Injuries’ impact on league position
A review of injury rates relative to league position over the past three seasons suggests a slight trend, particularly at the top and bottom of the division. However, the overall correlation is not definitive, as mid-table clubs exhibit significant variability in injury rates year-on-year.
Manchester City, the four-time reigning champions, consistently maintained among the lowest injury rates in the Premier League. Arsenal, City’s main challengers over this period, also managed to avoid injuries relative to the rest of the league.
This could be down to superior medical facilities and effective recovery methods, or just good squad management, that helps their players avoid injuries during congested periods.
On the other hand, many of the highest injury rates within a season occurred at clubs that were eventually relegated. Watford recorded the highest injury rate in an individual season of any team, with 13.6 injuries per 1000 minutes in 2021/22, in a season where they finished 19th.
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Norwich City were also relegated that year, finishing 20th, and had an injury incidence rate of 9.8. Leeds United, with their high-octane style under Marcelo Bielsa and others, also had their injury troubles before eventually going down. Everton managed to buck the relegation trend but averaged a league position of 16thover those three years.
Teams that were relegated lost on average 1206 days per season due to player injury, at a rate of 8.8 injuries per 1000 minutes, compared to an overall average of 1096 days and 7.6 injuries per 1000 minutes. This suggests that injury crises can contribute to poor performance, or that struggling teams are less equipped to prevent and manage injuries effectively.
Mills highlights that “generally during fixture congestion, players will be more fatigued which affects chances of injury but also reduces standards of performance too”, which could explain why many of the highest injury rates coincide with clubs underperforming or struggling to maintain consistency.
Fatigue, as well as injuries, also has the potential to impact both player fitness and overall performance levels, further hindering a club’s ability to achieve its objectives on the pitch.
The rise of soft tissue injuries
In recent years, soft tissue injuries have become an increasing concern within football. With so many teams adopting a high-pressing style of play, quick and frequent sprints have become a feature of the modern game.
Hamstring injuries, in particular, have become a common issue due to the growing demands of sprinting in football. A study found that hamstring injuries have doubled in frequency over the past twenty years, and now represent 24% of all injuries.
Mills agrees that there is “a strong correlation with the amount of soft tissue injuries occurring with the increased intensity of the sport, with sprint distances exponentially growing in the sport year on year.”
The severity of hamstring injuries occurring is also getting worse, with grade three tears becoming more common. Arsenal have found that out the hard way this year, with Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz both succumbing to long-term hamstring injuries.
“The grade ones and twos are gone,” Fearghal Kerin, an ex-Chelsea physio, told the Guardian. “It would traditionally have been considered to be hamstring tightness. We don’t really see a return in 10 days any more.”
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As Mills notes, the toll on players’ physical well-being—especially with the growing frequency of soft tissue injuries like hamstrings—raises important questions about the sustainability of the modern football calendar. As the league continues to evolve, how clubs manage player fitness will play a crucial role in determining their success on the pitch.
While there is no link between minutes played and injury rate, perhaps surprisingly given the complaints of certain managers, beneath the surface it is clear that there might be a breaking point in the near future. Particularly if top clubs continue to lose key players for extended periods of time.
It is in their interest to find a solution, because there is some evidence to suggest that injury frequency may play a role in shaping both title challenges and relegation battles.
With the Premier League’s revenues growing on an apparently infinitely upward curve, but success and failure decided on such narrow margins, clubs may be wise to invest a bit extra in the physical health of their players.
All statistics were sourced from PremierInjuries.com
Tom Johnston
Sports journalist from London with a passion for football, cricket and NFL. Experience includes The Telegraph, writing match previews for OddsNow and investigating sports washing in the Middle East. Newcastle United FC and Detroit Lions.
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