See where your club ranked in the injury list for 2013-2014…
As is traditional for this kind of year, the injuries are mounting at the Emirates, where David Ospina, Mesut Ozil, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Yaya Sanogo, Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud are currently injured. These problems have plagued Arsenal again this year, despite their much publicised reorganisation of their medical department.
By counting the cumulative days missed by players from each team in the 2013-2014 season, according to data published by Teamtalk, we have created a list which will show you exactly which clubs have their physios sorted, and which clubs need an overhaul.
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20) Arsenal (1716 days injured)
Quite incredibly, Arsenal managed to squeeze a total of over 4.7 years of injury into just one season. It’s no surprise then that they sought to reorganise their medical department over the summer, although given their current predicament, not much seems to have changed.
19) Tottenham (1441)
Arsenal’s north London rivals seem to have more in common with their neightbours than they’d like to admit; although astonishingly they are still almost a full year better off than the Gunners18) Aston Villa (1426)
Villa might have had an easier time of it last year had defenders like Jores Okore and Ron Vlaar not missed such long periods.17) Everton (1367)
The Toffees had an impressive season considering their thin squad and their position in the top five most injury ridden clubs.16) Southampton (708)
Newcastle have so much other trouble brewing around the club that its easy to forget the injury problems that players like Ryan Tayor have had.15) West Bromwich Albion (1161)
A mid-table injury record for the mid-table midlands club.14) Manchester United (1146)
While Robin Van Persie’s injury record has been surprisingly clean since leaving Arsenal, other players have dragged United down the table.13) Fulham (1095)
The arrival of Felix Magath did nothing to help the club, and his notoriously archaic methods (like the infamous quark cheese) did nothing to help their injury crisis.12) West Ham (1094)
Sam Allardyce had to do some creative tactical tinkering after losing Andy Carroll, who was a key part of his Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and Plan D.11) Crystal Palace (1061)
A gritty midtable performance from the Eagles, perfectly suited to their performances under Pulis last year.10) Hull City (1017)
Hull would have done a lot better in the table were it not for poor Robbie Brady, who missed the majority of the season with a hernia.9) Liverpool (997)
Liverpool’s lack of European football helped them in this league too, with players getting plenty of rest between games.8) Norwich (978)
The Canaries were left ruing the injury to Elliot Bennett, who played in the first and last games of the season, but none inbetween,7) Manchester City (929)
City are planning to move to an impressive new £50m training complex, and they will want the move more than ever now they know they were outside the Champions League places on the injury table.6) Swansea City (922)
Swansea were fortunate that key players like Wilfried Bony and Ashley Williams stayed free of injury as they competed with another solid season.5) Sunderland (735)
Who knows whether Sunderland would have managed their astonishing escape from relegation had they not kept injuries to such an impressively low level?4) Southampton (708)
A good injury record was just one of the factors contributing to Saints’ great season.3) Cardiff City (609)
Their fantastic injury record did not help Cardiff stay up, especially as about a third of it was taken up by flop striker Andreas Cornelius.2) Chelsea (556)
Pipped to the prize by a single point, Chelsea will be furious that they didn’t rush Fernando Torres back from his cruciate injury just a couple of days earlier.1) Stoke City (555)
Stoke City have been proving their image as thuggish football dinosaurs inaccurate on the pitch, and their amazing injury record last season shows they have things sorted off the pitch too.