Ten Hag working silent miracles and Arsenal at 9) in ranking of current Premier League injury crises
Injury crises, so hot right now. Injury crises. At least a quarter of the actual Premier League is in the grips of one, with Erik ten Hag navigating Manchester United’s masterfully.
20) West Ham
Nothing to report for the healthy boys of David Moyes. Expect a transfer tug of war for and 5,000-word Athletic background piece on Richard Collinge, the club’s Head of Medical, soon enough.
19) Everton
Dele (groin/hip/pelvis), Andre Gomes (calf/shin/heel) and Seamus Coleman (knee)
The imminent first-team return of Coleman, who played an hour of a recent Bristol Street Motors Trophy on his comeback from a long-term knee ligament injury, will be described as a boost of some sort. But in terms of on-pitch influence, Everton have surely moved on from the Irishman as a regular starter; the more sprightly, energetic kids like Ashley Young deserve a chance instead.
No risks will be taken over the continued rehabilitation of Dele, who is nevertheless ingratiating himself in first-team matters and “absorbing” all things Dyche. The manager has almost certainly joined everyone else in forgetting Gomes exists.
18) Crystal Palace
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (thigh), James Tomkins (calf/shin/heel), Dean Henderson (thigh)
Roy Hodgson noted that Palace were “in the middle of quite a serious injury crisis at the moment” in early October, but the Selhurst Park treatment room might now be feeling a little empty with Ebereche Eze, Michael Olise, Odsonne Edouard, Jefferson Lerma and Matheus Franca all overcoming their myriad issues around the same time.
Some players remain sidelined but none of Rak-Sakyi, Tomkins or Henderson are sorely missed, even if the club’s form has collapsed somewhat.
17) Fulham
Rodrigo Muniz (knee), Tosin Adarabioyo (groin/hip/pelvis) Issa Diop (ankle/foot)
The one-game suspension of Joao Palhinha for five bookings will be rued about 10 times more than those injuries combined by Marco Silva, whose reliance upon the midfielder was already reaching close to breaking point for a club slowly slipping into a relegation battle for which they are entirely under-equipped.
Joao Palhinha roars during game for Fulham
16) Nottingham Forest
Callum Hudson-Odoi (thigh), Felipe (knee), Gonzalo Montiel (calf/shin/heel), Murillo (knock)
Steve Cooper has the depth of squad to cope with the losses of a winger and three defenders, each of whom should be back well before the new year. Chris Wood and Divock Origi are at least back to give Forest more firepower.
15) Burnley
Ameen Al-Dakhil (knock), Lyle Foster (leave of absence)
“We were very fortunate that Lyle had been very open with us. From that moment we could act, as soon as he said it and showed signs of how severe it was for him. The entire support team within the club mobilised and made sure he could focus on his own recovery. In moments like this, we have to put the human first.”
Credit to Vincent Kompany, Burnley and most of all Foster, to whom we wish the very best in his continued recovery.
14) Wolves
Joe Hodge (shoulder), Pedro Neto (thigh)
Gary O’Neil will be spending his international break crossing absolutely everything possible while avoiding walking under ladders, across the path of black cats or on pavement cracks. Neto was painfully absent for the Sheffield United defeat and though Wolves did win their next game without him, it was against a team consumed by their own injury problems.
“I hope he’ll be back but there’s a lot to do between now and then,” the manager said of Neto returning to face Fulham on November 27. “There’s still over two and a half weeks and a lot we need to tick off before he’s able to play again.”
13) Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne (thigh), Nathan Ake (knock), Sergio Gomez (unknown), John Stones (thigh)
“We are in trouble but I am not going to say, ‘Oh, we have a lot of injuries’,” said Pep Guardiola in September, hyper-aware of how any Manchester City attempt to play the world’s richest violin is received externally.
Things were worse when De Bruyne, Stones, Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva were out. The current issues are focused more in the defensive department and it might not be a total coincidence that Manchester City conceded at least four goals in a game for the first time since September 2020 in the Chelsea draw.
12) Aston Villa
Emi Buendia (knee), Tyrone Mings (knee), Diego Carlos (knock), Jacob Ramsey (ankle/foot)
There are a couple of season-ending knee injuries among that number but, for want of a better phrase, Aston Villa have taken them entirely in their stride. That Unai Emery has dealt so well with the situation is testament to the excellence of his coaching and squad more than anything.
11) Luton
Mads Andersen (thigh), Dan Potts (ankle/foot), Reece Burke (thigh), Cauley Woodrow (calf/shin/heel), Albert Sambi-Lokonga (thigh), Amari’i Bell (thigh), Alfie Doughty (knock)
Rob Edwards described his team as being “down to the bare bones” earlier this month and Luton are still contending with some high-profile injuries. Andersen, Burke, Lokonga and Doughty are all likely starters for a club who understandably do not have any like-for-like replacements going spare.
10) Bournemouth
Tyler Adams (thigh), Alex Scott (knee), Ryan Fredericks (calf/shin/heel), Emiliano Marcondes (ankle/foot), Philip Billing (knock), Max Aarons (thigh), Darren Randolph (illness)
Two of those problems feel at least a little bit self-inflicted, with Adams yet to properly recover from the injury he was signed with, while Scott has suffered a new knee issue unlikely to be unrelated to the one he had earlier in the season.
The Andoni Iraola revolution might have been set back months because of the absence of Emiliano Marcondes. We will never know.
9) Arsenal
Thomas Partey (thigh), Martin Odegaard (groin/hip/pelvis), Benjamin White (knock), Cedric Soares (illness), Gabriel Jesus (thigh), Emile Smith Rowe (knee), Gabriel Martinelli (knock), Jurrien Timber (knee)
Some substantial names, no doubt, but only two of those are expected to be absent for any meaningful time beyond the end of the international break. And Arsenal have been coping without Partey and Timber since basically August.
Mikel Arteta will nevertheless be frustrated that Jesus and Martinelli have not joined Odegaard in withdrawing from international duty. Leandro Trossard is versatile and brilliant, but he is merely one man.
8) Liverpool
Thiago (groin/hip/pelvis), Andy Robertson (shoulder), Curtis Jones (hamstring), Ryan Gravenberch (knee), Joe Gomez (knock), Ibrahima Konate (thigh), Stefan Bajcetic (calf/shin/heel)
Jurgen Klopp acknowledged that Liverpool “need to be lucky with injuries” in defence particularly, having opted not to sign a centre-half in the summer, but Jarell Quansah’s emergence has helped ease the load and it probably helps having Virgil van Dijk be so imperious again, even if he doesn’t fancy playing so much football.
Even Robertson’s absence has been absorbed masterfully. There is the basis for some sort of obscure pub quiz question concerning Thiago’s 51 Premier League starts; what a weird time.
7) Chelsea
Wesley Fofana (knee), Ben Chilwell (thigh), Romeo Lavia (ankle/foot), Christopher Nkunku (knee), Levi Colwill (shoulder), Trevoh Chalobah (thigh), Carney Chukwuemeka (knee)
Chelsea signed five of those players for a combined £255m, while the other two are academy graduates who the club have rejected £30m offers and Bayern Munich approaches for.
“We had some conversation and he said to me I want to be ready for after the international break against Newcastle,” Mauricio Pochettino said of Nkunku, the forward who was meant to stitch together a Chelsea attack which has scored four goals in both their last two games. Those poor Magpies.
6) Brentford
Rico Henry (knee), Aaron Hickey (thigh), Kevin Schade (groin/hip/pelvis), Mikkel Damsgaard (knee), Keane Lewis-Potter (calf/shin/heel), Josh Dasilva (thigh)
There are longer absentee lists out there, particularly when adding the suspended Ivan Toney, who won’t be returning until January at the earliest. But in Henry, Hickey and Toney, Brentford have three certain starters on the sidelines and a squad otherwise impacted quite profoundly.
Thomas Frank would be hard pushed to identify a player who has not missed at least one game through injury this season. The manager has said that even goalkeeping coach Manu Sotelo “got a mark” in an altercation with Nottingham Forest’s groundstaff before their draw in October.
5) Sheffield United
Chris Basham (ankle/foot), Max Lowe (ankle/foot), Anel Ahmedhodzic (thigh), Oli McBurnie (groin/hip/pelvis), Rhian Brewster (thigh), Rhys Norrington-Davies (thigh), John Egan (ankle/foot), Tom Davies (thigh), Daniel Jebbison (illness)
The Blades using 27 players in the Premier League – the joint-most alongside Nottingham Forest – is a clue as to their struggles with injury this season. Paul Heckingbottom’s squad is not blessed with a great deal of quality or quantity in relative terms, but solutions have had to be found.
“My mind’s on the boys who are fit and are coming back and it just has to be that way, they have to have all my attention and all my focus while the guys are getting fit,” the manager said at the peak of the issues in October. He explained that such absences provide “an opportunity for others” and the Blades have benefited from concentrating on that silver line as opposed to the ominous, continuous dark cloud.
4) Brighton
Julio Enciso (knee), Tariq Lamptey (knock), Pervis Estupinan (muscle), James Milner (muscle), Lewis Dunk (groin/hip/pelvis), Evan Ferguson (back), Danny Welbeck (knock), Solly March (knee)
Roberto De Zerbi namechecked Estupinan, Dunk, Ferguson and Lamptey as players he expects to return soon after the international break, while the recovery windows of the rest are a little less clear.
The manager is “very worried” about the club’s “terrible situation” with injuries, which has already seen them use six different starting left-backs and four different starting right-backs in all competitions. Still, what about those darn referees?!
United and Newcastle injury crisis gets lots of attention but have you seen Brighton's!!! Amazing they can still be competitive with that many
— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) November 13, 2023
3) Manchester United
Casemiro (thigh), Lisandro Martinez (ankle/foot), Jonny Evans (knock), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (illness), Tyrell Malacia (knee), Luke Shaw (leg), Christian Eriksen (knee), Rasmus Hojlund (thigh), Amad (knee)
Erik ten Hag remains among the Premier League sack race favourites despite producing the best form of any side from October onwards with a team decimated by injuries. Put some respect on the miracle worker’s name.
Comparatively little is made of the ongoing problems with fitness at Manchester United, who added Eriksen and Hojlund to their walking wounded after the Luton win. An investigation into the situation has been launched to identify any patterns into those muscular issues in particular, with Gary O’Driscoll having started as the club’s head of sports medicine in September after being poached from Arsenal.
2) Tottenham
Ivan Perisic (knee), Micky van de Ven (thigh), James Maddison (ankle/foot), Ryan Sessegnon (thigh), Manor Solomon (knee), Richarlison (groin/hip/pelvis), Alfie Whiteman (ankle/foot)
It does not look great, and then the suspensions of Cristian Romero, Yves Bissouma and Destiny Udogie are factored in. Beyond that, Perisic, Van de Ven, Maddison, Sessegnon and Solomon are all expected to be out until 2024.
“That’s the tricky bit – we can’t afford any more injuries, we have to be very careful about the game time we give these guys,” Ange Postecoglou said after the Chelsea moral victory/actual defeat.
With the way things are going, Harry Kane’s traditional mid-season ankle injury might have permanently banished him to the shadow realm if he had stayed.
1) Newcastle
Jacob Murphy (shoulder), Dan Burn (back), Elliot Anderson (back), Sven Botman (knee), Harvey Barnes (ankle/foot), Callum Wilson (thigh), Miguel Almiron (thigh), Alexander Isak (groin/hip/pelvis), Javier Manquillo (groin/hip/pelvis), Matt Targett (thigh)
Kieran Trippier might genuinely have just been asking because he’s lost count. What Eddie Howe has termed “a unique situation” has left Newcastle, as things stand, without a first-team striker and, due to Lewis Hall’s ineligibility against parent club Chelsea, a left-back, while barrels are being scraped at centre-half and on the wing.
At least they’re heading into the notoriously quiet and light winter period. Put those feet up over December and January, fellas. Although with their current luck even that would strain a few hamstrings.
