{"id":639794,"date":"2024-05-16T13:39:38","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T17:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=639794"},"modified":"2024-05-16T13:39:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T17:39:38","slug":"injury-stats-arsenal-and-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/05\/16\/injury-stats-arsenal-and-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Injury Stats Reveal Secret Behind \u2018Historic\u2018 Arsenal and Manchester City Runs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City and Arsenal have maintained better fitness levels compared to their Premier League rivals this season. The neck-and-neck title race has continued for months, with both sides suffering minimal injury issues.<\/p>\n<h2>Key Injury Stats Revealed on Manchester City and Arsenal<\/h2>\n<h3>A Thrilling Title Race<\/h3>\n<p>Manchester City leapfrogged Arsenal from the Premier League\u2019s top spot en route to winning the treble last season. As expected, the Gunners returned for another title push with a reinforced squad this term, but the Citizens have shown no desire to give up the trophy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/05\/13\/arsenal-transfer-ajax-jorrel-hato\/\" target=\"_self\">Gunners Eyeing Summer Move For \u2018Very Mature\u2019 Youngster<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Pep Guardiola\u2019s side defeated Tottenham 2-0 to reclaim the top spot. The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/datablog\/2019\/may\/11\/premier-league-endgame-the-data-that-shows-up-an-historic-title-race\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">historic<\/a>\u201d race between City and Arsenal, which has been ongoing for several months, will finally come to a conclusion this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides have maintained incredible consistency with their performances this season, each claiming 27 victories in 37 league games so far. New injury data suggest one reason why other teams haven\u2019t been able to keep up with the main title contenders.<\/p>\n<h3>Adapting to a Brutal Schedule<\/h3>\n<p>Manchester City have played a total of 57 games so far this season, six more than Arsenal. However, despite their congested schedules, neither side has allowed fitness setbacks to significantly affect their results.<\/p>\n<p>According to data from Premier Injuries (via <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BenDinnery\/status\/1790676320252309639\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Dinnery<\/a>), both teams have had the lowest injury incidence rates per 1000 minutes played this season. The Gunners have suffered 4.9 injuries for every 1000 minutes played, while City have picked up 5.2 knocks on average. Manchester United have had the worst campaign in this regard, registering an average of 10.3.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/04\/18\/manchester-city-rayan-ait-nouri-wolves\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester City Eyeing Summer Move For \u2018Phenomenal\u2019 Star<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Except for Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey, Arteta&#8217;s squad have stayed clear of long-term injuries throughout the term. Partey made his return in early March, while Timber is pushing for a late comeback this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>City\u2019s most notable absentees were Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, who both missed crucial parts of the campaign. However, thanks to excellent squad depth and Phil Foden\u2019s wonderful <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/05\/04\/manchester-city-premier-league-player-of-the-season\/\" target=\"_self\">run of form<\/a>, their absence wasn&#8217;t felt as badly as initially feared.<\/p>\n<h3>Fitness Updates Ahead of EPL Final Day<\/h3>\n<p>Both De Bruyne and Ederson were subbed off during City\u2019s crucial win over Tottenham in mid-week. The pair joined Nathan Ake, who also remains an injury doubt ahead of this weekend\u2019s match against West Ham.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/05\/12\/florian-wirtz-arsenal-real-madrid-transfer\/\" target=\"_self\">Real Madrid In Pole Position To Sign \u2018Outstanding\u2019 Gunners Target<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Arsenal\u2019s Timber hopes to end the season on a positive note by making his long-awaited return against Everton on Sunday. Bukayo Saka limped off the pitch against Manchester United, but Mikel Arteta expects him to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.football.london\/arsenal-fc\/news\/breaking-arsenal-dealt-major-bukayo-29155973\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">be fine<\/a>\u201d for his side\u2019s last game of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City and Arsenal have maintained better fitness levels compared to their Premier League rivals this season. The neck-and-neck title race has continued for months, with both sides suffering minimal injury issues. Key Injury Stats Revealed on Manchester City and Arsenal A Thrilling Title Race Manchester City leapfrogged Arsenal from the Premier League\u2019s top spot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5073,"featured_media":639818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,1830,17,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-639794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-arsenal","category-injuries","category-manchester-city","category-news"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}