Which team has suffered the most from injuries this season?

Tottenham’s missing centre-backs, Pep Guardiola’s injury crisis and the impact of Martin Odegaard’s absence on Arsenal.

Player fatigue, match congestion and injuries have been among the main stories of the 2024-25 Premier League season so far.

But is the injury problem really that serious? And which team has the worst?

BBC Sport, with the help of data from the Premier Injuries website, took a look at who has suffered the most from injuries this season.

Injuries are down this season

Ben Dinnery, from Premier Injuries Ltd, presented some of the numbers behind the injury data. As of December 10, 2024:

• Hamstring-related absence (53) accounts for almost a quarter of all injuries (24%) – and around 42% of all muscle injuries.

• Ankle/foot (34); knee (26); groin/pelvis (23) and calf/heel (21) – are the other areas of repeated injury.

However, comparing the injury situation to the same stage last season, the overall numbers are actually down.

“Year-on-year there has been a reduction of around 20% in the number of injury incidents and around 30% in the ‘burden’ placed on clubs – the number of days missed by injured players,” Dinnery explains.

Its data is calculated from the opening day of the season, so players who were already injured before the campaign – such as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries of Brentford’s Rico Henry, Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings and Solly Brighton March – do not count. .

Dinnery says season comparisons are complicated by the impact of major summer tournaments as well as the World Cup in Qatar in December 2022, but believes the data shows an overall “static” trend in muscle injuries – particularly hamstrings – in recent years.

“Perhaps the story [of an increase in injuries] is driven by some high profile managers and the prevalence of serious injuries to higher status players, such as Manchester City’s Rodri,” Dinnery said.

“City are generally performing well despite their injury burden and Pep Guardiola is managing the team very well.

“The injury narrative is not being pushed by Kieran McKenna at Ipswich or Fabian Hurzeler at Brighton.

“They are not using their marginalized players as excuses, even though Ipswich have lost huge players as they try to adapt to the intensity and rigors of Premier League football.

“Brighton didn’t have a great record last year, but they had to compete against European football. Big numbers are one thing, but football is a contact sport. Perhaps that’s a testament to the recruitment of a strong and deep team they have They are still doing well despite the number of injuries.”