Viktor Gyokeres leads line for Premier League XI of non-starters this season | OneFootball

Our minds are blown by the fact that Viktor Gyokeres has only played 12 minutes of Premier League football so far this season, so who else is still awaiting their first start?

We’ve put together a line-up of Premier League players who haven’t been injured and yet are still without a start to their name in the top flight this season.

Summer signings only count if they’ve been at their new club since before the first game of the season.

In a good old 4-4-2 formation to accommodate two big-money, big-name strikers, so here’s the XI.

GK: Nick Pope (Newcastle United) We could have gone with any number of second-choice keepers to kick us off, but Pope has somehow been demoted to third choice at Newcastle.

And that’s quite a comedown for someone who played in 27 Premier League games last season, taking him beyond 100 for his current club.

The signings of Lukas Hornicek and Ewen Jaouen have pushed Pope far down the pecking order, so much so that he didn’t even make the bench for their first two league games of the season.

Now 34, he will have expected to be phased out after some struggles last season, but perhaps not as drastically and suddenly as this.

Newcastle were unable to find a taker for Pope in the summer transfer window and so are stuck with him until January at least. His contract runs out in the summer.

RB: Kenny Tete (Fulham) Tete’s start to the season at Fulham has been overshadowed by a failed move to Everton – for the second summer in a row.

The right-back remained on the bench for Fulham’s season opener against Chelsea before being left out altogether against Sunderland and Crystal Palace amid all the transfer hubbub.

But the move never came to pass and Tete was reintroduced off the bench against Liverpool at the weekend.

CB: Leny Yoro (Manchester United) Manchester United have been going with a throwback defence so far this season, with Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez – the same partnership that began the 2022/23 season – starting together in all but one of their matches so far.

That’s meant no room for Yoro, a situation complicated further by Ayden Heaven becoming the preferred younger defender.

Yoro is now in his third season as a United player, having been signed in 2024 as one of Europe’s top defensive prospects. For one reason or another, he hasn’t quite fulfilled his potential yet.

Matthijs de Ligt has been back in training too, which could soon present another obstacle to Yoro’s chances of Premier League minutes.

CB: Pascal Struijk (Brighton) It’s been a gradual start to Struijk’s Brighton career after his summer move from Leeds United. Even in the Conference League play-offs, he couldn’t get a start.

Another summer signing, Luka Vuskovic, has become the go-to partner for captain Lewis Dunk at the back, leaving Struijk on the fringes so far.

He came on for just a minute against his former club Leeds to make his league debut for Brighton, before getting a handful of minutes against Coventry.

But after starting 33 league games for Leeds last season – a tally he won’t be able to match if he fails to start just two more times – it looks like Struijk is unlikely to be as prominent for his new club.

LB: Rayan Ait-Nouri (Manchester City) Manchester City’s capture of Ait-Nouri from Wolves last summer seemed a smart pick-up of a player who’d shown potential elsewhere in the Premier League.

But his debut season at the Etihad also turned out to be the one in which Nico O’Reilly made his breakthrough, thus weakening Ait-Nouri’s chances of regular minutes at left-back.

There were whispers of an exit this summer, but none materialised. Still, Ait-Nouri was left out of the squad completely for the Manchester derby, despite not being injured.

Coincidentally, Manchester United were one of the clubs linked with Ait-Nouri this summer in what would have been a rare move across the city.

At 25, Ait-Nouri can’t afford to let his career stagnate like this. Not only has he not started a 2026-27 Premier League game, he hasn’t even come on yet.

His only gametime was a 15-minute cameo in the Champions League against Porto, but he has otherwise drifted into obscurity.

CM: Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal) Zubimendi was burnt out by the end of last season, but the majority assumed he would bounce back after the summer. That has not been the case.

Declan Rice remains a fixed starter in the Arsenal midfield and Myles Lewis-Skelly has muscled his way into contention there as well, meaning Zubimendi has had to settle with coming on as a sub in all four of the reigning champions’ games so far.

The signing of Bruno Guimaraes – also yet to start a Premier League game for the Gunners as he integrates into the team – doesn’t bode well for Zubimendi’s chances of increasing his minutes.

CM: Jefferson Lerma (Crystal Palace) Lerma was a late returner to Crystal Palace for pre-season after being at the World Cup with Colombia, but the 31-year-old should have been up to speed by now.

He only came on for six minutes in Palace’s fourth league game of the season, after being left out of the squad for two of the others and on the bench for the entirety of another.

As someone who played 48 times across all competitions for them last season, including 25 starts, it’s been a slow start.

Lerma signed a new contract to stay at Palace this summer, only to be left out of their Europa League squad earlier this month.

Able to play in midfield or defence, there should be plenty of options for him to break into the team. But time will tell if the official line of Palace taking their time with him after his busy summer rings true, or if he will have to adapt to a diminishing role under Pierre Sage.

RW: Estevao (Chelsea) For all the cash Chelsea have thrown around on young talents in recent years, Estevao is the player most believe will emerge as a genuine star. He should make it, but he’s not the finished article just yet.

The winger only started 12 Premier League games last season and is yet to do so this season, coming off the bench three times but never for more than 10 minutes.

Xabi Alonso has given him starts in both of Chelsea’s Carabao Cup games so far, but Estevao is having to be more patient in the league.

LW: Alejandro Garnacho (Aston Villa) Aston Villa’s signing of Garnacho on loan from Chelsea led many to wonder what Unai Emery had seen in him. Emery himself might still be trying to figure that out.

Garnacho came off the bench for each of Villa’s first three games of the season, but only has around half an hour of gametime to his name all in and has not sparkled like his jewellery.

He was left on the bench for all of Villa’s loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

CF: Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal) Gyokeres was one of the big protagonists of a transfer window dominated by strikers last summer. It was the position Arsenal saw as the last piece of their puzzle to finally take them to a title, and his goal record with Sporting CP looked promising.

As it happened, Arsenal did finally get their hands on the Premier League trophy, but without Gyokeres having established himself as a key player.

And so far this season, Mikel Arteta has preferred Kai Havertz up front, giving Gyokeres just 12 minutes in the Premier League.

Clearly, it’s not what was expected to happen after Arsenal’s £55m investment in him a year ago.

There will be games that call for more of a traditional striker like Gyokeres, but he needs to take his game to another level if he’s to become a long-term success at Arsenal.

CF: Benjamin Sesko (Manchester United) Sesko was another striker in the same category as Gyokeres last summer, boasting a scoring record at his previous club that had plenty of suitors taking note.

So far, the Manchester United man has done just about okay, averaging a goal around every three Premier League appearances.

But he is yet to start a game this season, with United relying on Matheus Cunha as their starting striker instead.

There is a caveat with this one; Sesko has been gradually working his way back to full fitness after missing much of pre-season through injury.

With that in mind, it almost feels harsh to include him here, but the stipulation is non-injured players and he’s been fit enough to play a part off the bench in all four of United’s games so far.

Sesko scored on his first start in the Champions League this season against Sabah, on the back of his goal off the bench against Everton. He’ll be hoping it all acts as a springboard for his season.

Expect to see more of him after the international break.