Premier League fans are surely aware of the injury plague that has been sweeping many players out of their respective teams’ lineups. Over the course of the festive period, a total of 53 injuries has been recorded.
Data provided by Premier Injuries Limited suggests that there has been indeed a huge injury spike in recent weeks. There were 96 injuries reported since last month until the first two days of 2020.
That number is just one fewer than those injuries that lasted for more than 10 days across the whole month of August and September combined. Now with 17 more players being checked for injuries, it seems that the number will grow more in the next few days.
Clubs played four matches across 12 days over Christmas and the New Year, but the gap between Premier League fixtures has been as little as two days. That alone was less when Manchester City played the Wolverhampton Wanderers as they had a gap of just 46 hours.
Newcastle United took four big injuries in just the span of 20 minutes when they battled Leicester on New Year’s Day. Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was forced to play his already injured players in a tough 4-0 loss to West Ham United.
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Bet on live Premier League games on Sportsbet.io England’s captain Harry Kane suffered a critical hamstring injury in the second half in Tottenham’s loss to Southampton. Kane played every minute of seven league matches back in December.
Fifpro, football’s world players’ union, has been calling out to the game’s authorities to address global fixture congestion.
Bobby Barnes, Fifpro Europe’s President and Deputy Chief Executive of the Professional Footballer’s Association, believes that urgent action is needed. He claims that the period in 2021-22 would be fatal for players.
True enough, the 2021-22 season will feature a November World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, and the Concacaf Gold Cup amidst the usual and regular leagues that are played all over the world.
‘Football’s governing bodies, as well as the clubs and leagues, need to get together on a global basis to try to ease this pressure’, Barnes said. ‘We are in a slightly different position – we have this tradition of playing at Christmas, and it is part of our culture – but it feels as if it is not a joined-up system’.
‘We can’t look at it just from a domestic point of view. The time has come to have a holistic view. We need a joined up and grown up discussion’, Barnes continued. ‘You don’t play the game without the players. Their interests have to be better protected’.
Fifpro Is Calling For The Following:
- Mandatory off-season breaks with at least four weeks along with a two-week midseason break.
- Limit on back-to-back games with a recovery time of less than five days.
- Annual match limit consideration.
- Monitoring match loads with the use of early warning systems.
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