Man United, Spurs and Chelsea at risk of injury crisis due pre-season travel

Last season’s FA Cup winners, who suffered the most separate injuries in the league in their previous campaign with 45, were second only to Tottenham Hotspur who travelled to manager Ange Postecoglou’s native Australia at the start of the summer.

However, United’s players have also had a hectic summer away from the club with Old Trafford supplying 10 players to international squads across the 2024 Copa America and Euro 2024. Only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal sent more players to compete for their countries this summer.

OLBG’s results on how far each Premier League club will have travelled during pre-season

Team; Round Trip Distance (KM); Round Trip Distance (Miles); Players at Copa America/Euro

Tottenham Hotspur; 20,624.42; 12,815.41; 7

Man Utd; 20,587.30; 12,792.35; 10

Chelsea; 20,294.19; 12,610.22; 9

Brighton & Hove Albion; 19,241.15; 11,955.89; 10

Newcastle United; 18,802.46; 11,683.30; 6

Arsenal; 18,342.61; 11,397.57; 13

Aston Villa; 18,328.24; 11,388.64; 7

Bournemouthl 17,476.74; 10,859.54; 5

Wolverhampton Wanderers; 16,255.63; 10,100.78; 6

Man City; 15,566.43; 9,672.53; 15

Crystal Palace; 14,354.39; 8,919.40; 8

West Ham United; 14,262.10; 8,862.06; 7

Liverpool: 13,267.62; 8,244.11; 14

Nottingham Forest: 8,436.45; 5,242.17; 6

Fulham; 4,315.92; 2,681.79; 8

Ipswich; 4,076.19; 2,532.82; 0

Brentford; 3,189.74; 1,982.01; 6

Leicester: 1,871.71; 1,163.02; 4

Everton; 1,130.55; 702.49; 3

Southampton: 291.77; 181.30; 1

Manchester United boss Ten Hag blamed his side’s disappointing showing in finishing a lowly eighth in the Premier League last season on injuries ahead of their surprise win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

Given the pressure on the Dutchman to deliver this year, following weeks of speculation over his future as new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe interviewed other candidates to replace Ten Hag, another injury-ridden campaign is the last thing he needs.

Chelsea, meanwhile, may have also been testing the limits of their players. The Blues were second to United for injuries suffered last season (43) and were third in the table for distance covered behind Spurs and Ten Hag’s men. They also sent nine players off to play their countries at the Copa America and European Championship.

Brighton and Hove Albion and Newcastle United, who both suffered their own injury crises last season, round out the top five.

At the other end of the table, Southampton will have travelled the least followed by Everton, Leicester City, Brentford and Ipswich Town.

Arsenal came in sixth, ahead of Aston Villa in seventh, with Manchester City 10th and Liverpool 13th, with City providing more players to squads across the Copa America and Euro tournaments (15) ahead of Liverpool (14) and Arsenal (13).

Using data on each club’s pre-season schedule from the Premier League, the total distance covered was calculated based on the chain of venues that they would have to travel between, starting and ending at their home stadiums.

For example, starting at Old Trafford, Manchester United’s total distance covered over the summer started from the journey from their home stadium to Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim then to Scottish Gas Murrayfield, Edinburgh before moving on to SoFi Stadium in LA, Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego and Williams - Brice Stadium in South Carolina before returning to Old Trafford. This is the same method used for each team to make it fair.

A spokesperson for OLBG said: “Players, managers and even fans are now speaking out about the fixture pile-up that’s affecting the top teams in football.

“Last season the Premier League saw clubs struggle to compete due to the number of injuries suffered while critics of Euro 2024 have claimed too many tired players made for boring matches.

“However, with all the commercial opportunities for clubs around the world this summer, teams are not resting for a second even during the break between seasons.

“The 20 sides of the Premier League are set to travel at least 155,000 miles, or just over 250,000 kilometres before the 2024/25 season kicks off. That’s enough to travel around the circumference of the Earth almost six-and-a-half times.

“Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur have already given that a go this summer by travelling to Australia for a couple of friendlies but Manchester United could be the team most likely to look like they’ve been carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

“Erik Ten Hag’s side suffered the most injuries last season, will be second to Spurs for distance travelled this summer, and sent 10 players to compete across the Copa America in the USA and Euro 2024 in Germany this summer.

“That’s a lot of travel and a lot of football and it could once again set them up for a gruelling campaign beset by injury setbacks.”