Premier League 2000-minute men: Arsenal only fifth in bid for quadruple as Man Utd ‘hurting’ | OneFootball

The squad depths of Arsenal and Chelsea are evident while Manchester United failing to qualify for the Champions League will be criminal unless a lack of football really is “hurting” them.

We’ve totted up all the Premier League players who have played over 2000 minutes of football this season.

16=) Brighton – 5

Ferdi Kadioglu – 2706, Bart Verbruggen – 2610, Jan Paul van Hecke – 2601, Lewis Dunk – 2475, Diego Gomez – 2115

A lack of minutes to allow Brighton to play the game as it should be played.

17=) Bournemouth – 5

Djordje Petrovic – 2820, Adrien Truffert – 2607, Marcos Senesi – 2556, Alex Scott – 2342, Evanilson – 2145

Petrovic is the only player to have played every minute for their club this season.

17=) Burnley – 5

Martin Dubravka – 2610, Maxime Esteve – 2422, Kyle Walker – 2372, Lesley Ugochukwu – 2052, Jaidon Anthony – 2033

Walker announced his bombshell retirement from international football in an Overlap exclusive this week to a collective national shrug as no amount of minutes for Burnley is going to prove he’s worthy of a place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the World Cup.

17=) Wolves – 5

Joao Gomes – 2568, Andre – 2402, Santiago Bueno – 2283, Ladislav Krejci – 2265, Hugo Bueno – 2130

Ironically been far more malo than bueno.

14=) West Ham – 6

Jarrod Bowen – 2931, Mateus Fernandes – 2326, Alphonse Areola – 2130, Crysencio Summerville – 2100, Konstantinos Mavropanos – 2097, El Hadji Malick Diouf – 2007

A significant drop from most overworked to second-most offers a pretty clear indication of Bowen’s importance to West Ham and how he’s moved ahead of Eberechi Eze in the England “fight”.

14=) Manchester United – 6

Luke Shaw – 2448, Bruno Fernandes – 2393, Diogo Dalot – 2236, Senne Lammens – 2160, Bryan Mbeumo – 2099, Matheus Cunha – 2083

It will be criminal if they don’t qualify for the Champions League with such little football in their legs this season. And we would suggest those Manchester United players claiming they’re “hurting” through a lack of football might avoid getting knocked out of the two domestic cups at the first hurdle in future, and we’ll be sure to remind them of that complaint when they’re banging on about player welfare again next season.

14=) Fulham – 6

Bernd Leno – 2610, Sander Berge – 2531, Joachim Andersen – 2472, Harry Wilson – 2296, Raul Jimenez – 2279, Alex Iwobi – 2132

We’re certain Fulham fans were delighted by Marco Silva’s commitment to avoiding the injury red zone by ceding the FA Cup fifth round tie to Southampton.

10=) Aston Villa – 7

Morgan Rogers – 3353, Ezri Konsa – 3180, Matty Cash – 2891, Emiliano Martinez – 2700, Ollie Watkins – 2686, Pau Torres – 2053, Emiliano Buendia – 2044

Victory over Lille on Thursday saw Torres and Buendia make the mark but it’s still a very low number for a club competing in Europe. All of Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara would be in there without the injuries which have derailed Villa’s season.

10=) Everton – 7

James Tarkowski – 2910, James Garner – 2904, Jordan Pickford – 2730, Jake O’Brien – 2582, Vitaliy Mykolenko – 2354, Michael Keane – 2137, Iliman Ndiaye – 2024

Five of the seven being the goalkeeper and defenders and another a midfielder who often plays at full-back is so David Moyes and speaks to the stability he’s brought to Everton that must not be taken for granted.

10=) Brentford – 7

Michael Kayode – 2802, Coimhin Kelleher – 2640, Igor Thiago – 2627, Sepp van den Berg – 2565, Nathan Collins – 2561, Kevin Schade – 2355, Yegor Yarmolyuk – 2317

Six of them being signed in the last three years and Yarmolyuk being promoted from Brentford B in that time is testament to the Bees’ excellent scouting and transfer dealings.

10=) Leeds – 7

Ethan Ampadu – 2568, Gabriel Gudmondsson – 2531, Joe Rodon – 2399, Jayden Bogle – 2354, Pascal Struck – 2278, Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 2025, Anton Stach – 2002

Hard to know what will be more painful for Everton, Calvert-Lewin’s 10 Premier League goals or the fact he’s already been on the pitch longer than in three of his last four seasons at Goodison Park.

9) Sunderland – 8

Robin Roefs – 2730, Enzo Le Fee – 2691, Trai Hume – 2614, Nordi Mukiele – 2453, Omar Alderete – 2266, Noah Sadiki – 2263, Granit Xhaka – 2218, Dan Ballard – 2082

Six of the eight were signed in the summer and although 427 new additions increases the likelihood of some of them being the most overworked, having eight over the 2000-minute mark is testament to the quality of these particular signings.

6=) Tottenham – 9

Guglielmo Vicario – 2583, Micky van de Ven – 3178, Pedro Porro – 3039, Djed Spence – 2569, Joao Palhinha – 2499, Cristian Romero – 2416, Xavi Simons – 2264, Rodrigo Bentancur – 2072, Richarlison – 2039

17 minutes too few for Vicario and we assume the worst man-manager in football history made that abundantly clear both in private to Antonin Kinsky and in public to the dressing room on Tuesday night.

6=) Nottingham Forest – 9

Nikola Milenkovic – 3420, Morgan Gibbs-White – 3226, Elliot Anderson – 3205, Neco Williams – 3204,  Matz Sels – 3517, Callum Hudson-Odoi – 2410, Murillo – 2354, Igor Jesus – 2340, Ibrahim Sangare – 2199

Four players at the top well clear of the rest having evidently earned the trust and respect of all four of their managers this season. Vitor Pereira insists he wants them to be “competitive in both” the Premier League and Europa League but it was pretty clear on Thursday where his priorities lie.

6=) Chelsea – 9

Enzo Fernandez – 3421, Robert Sanchez – 3320, Trevoh Chalobah – 3219, Moises Caicedo – 3143, Pedro Neto – 3016, Joao Pedro – 2879, Marc Cucurella – 2826, Reece James – 2430, Malo Gusto – 2426

A pretty clear indication of Chelsea’s squad depth here, and although Liam Rosenior and all Chelsea stakeholders are at pains to remind us that many of these players also played 500-odd minutes in the Club World Cup in the summer, it wouldn’t tip any other players over the 2000-minute mark.

5=) Arsenal – 10

David Raya – 3420, Martín Zubimendi – 3343, Jurrien Timber – 3271, Declan Rice – 3192, William Saliba – 2946, Gabriel Magalhães – 2803, Bukayo Saka – 2599, Viktor Gyokeres – 2553, Eberechi Eze – 2362, Leandro Trossard – 2175

Not at all bad for the quadruple chasers, though Piero Hincapie, Mikel Merino, Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Martinelli have all played over 1700 minutes. Noni Madueke can expect to be up with them soon after showing Saka up on Wednesday.

4) Crystal Palace – 11

Maxence Lacroix – 3630, Dean Henderson – 3510, Tyrick Mitchell – 3286, Chris Richards – 3202, Adam Wharton – 3065, Marc Guehi – 2832, Daniel Munoz – 2750, Jean Philippe Mattea – 2720, Ismaila Sarr – 2505, Yeremy Pino – 2435, Daichi Kamada – 2214

Palace had just 12 players over the 2000-minute mark at the end of last season despite going all the way in the FA Cup. Their European dalliance has come at a significant Premier League cost for a team that was fourth after 15 Premier League games and now sit 13th after 29.

1=) Newcastle – 12

Malick Thiaw – 3795, Sandro Tonali – 3465, Bruno Guimaraes – 2883, Dan Burn – 2883, Harvey Barnes – 2797, Nick Pope – 2777, Nick Woltemade – 2656, Lewis Hall – 2558, Anthony Gordon – 2538, Joelinton – 2383, Kieran Trippier – 2368, Sven Botman – 2062

That’s an astonishing amount of football for Thiaw in his debut campaign, and his overwork was exhibited through a lazy leg to bring Dani Olmo down and concede a penalty in stoppage time on Tuesday.

1=) Liverpool – 12

Virgil van Dijk – 3771, Dominik Szoboszlai – 3578, Ibrahima Konate – 3230, Ryan Gravenberch – 3140, Alexis Mac Allister – 2950, Alisson – 2846, Cody Gakpo – 2733, Florian Wirtz – 2652, Mohamed Salah – 2585, Hugo Ekitike – 2572, Milos Kerkez – 2569, Curtis Jones – 2019.

A lot of football for at least five players (we’ll let you decide which five) who have been mainly terrible this season.

1=) Manchester City – 12

Marc Guehi – 3577 (2832 for Crystal Palace), Erling Haaland – 3183, Nico O’Reilly – 3151, Gianluigi Donnarumma – 3060, Matheus Nunes – 2910, Antoine Semenyo – 2898 (1845 for Bournemouth), Bernardo Silva – 2852, Phil Foden – 2684, Tijani Reijnders – 2509, Ruben Dias – 2421, Nico Gonzalez – 2256, Jeremy Doku – 2013

City would be nowhere in the title race without the two January additions which see them claim top spot. O’Reilly is the big surprise of the season in third and will never felt as tired as after 90 minutes against Federico Valverde on Wednesday.