As many as 95 players are currently injured n the Barclays Premier League this season – a testament of the competitiveness and brutal nature of the English top flight.
If clubs were to be crowned champions based on their injury list, then new boys, Bournemouth will become the undisputed choice.
The Cherries top the EPL Injury list with 10 players currently sidelined, closely followed by Newcastle United with same number of unavailable players.
No wonder both teams are currently languishing in the relegation zone and battling to retain their Premier League status.
Alexis Sanchez compounds an already miserable two months for Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger, who has seen his high-flying Gunners struggle with nine senior players out.
The Chilean joins the likes of Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla and Laurent Koscielny in the treatment room.
Statistics emerged this week showing Arsenal have had more injured players since the summer of 2010 than any other Premier League team.
And coach Arsene Wenger concedes to this in his interview with the press on Friday: “We compare our injuries across Europe and I don’t think we have more injuries than anyone else.”
Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero lead a list of nine players currently injured for Manchester City – ranking the Citizens 4th, just below the Gunners.
“We have an average of six players injured each game this season and without so important players we are at the top of the table,” City coach, Manuel Pellegrini, said in his pre-match briefing on Friday.
City rivals, Manchester United are fifth with seven players injured – while the latest injury to James McCarthy means Everton are sixth with equal number of injured players.
Chelsea, Liverpool, Stoke City and Watford complete the top 10 – all clubs currently have five injured players each.
However, Swansea City are at the foot of the injury table with just a single player unavailable – yet Gary Monk’s team are still struggling in the league.
Leicester City and Crystal Palace’s fairytale run thus far in the league could be down to the availability of a large number of their squad.
The duo have only two and three players out injured and are currently ranked 17th and 15th respectively on the injury log.
Top 10 EPL injury ranking
- Bournemouth – 10 players
- Newcastle – 10 players
- Arsenal – 9 players
- Manchester City – 9 players
- Manchester United – 7 players
- Everton – 6 players
- Chelsea – 5 players
- Liverpool – 5 players
- Stoke City – 5 players
- Watford – 5 players
