Featured Image Credit: PA/Alamy
Topics: Premier League, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City
Dominic Booth
Topics: Premier League, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City
Is having a big squad in the Premier League actually a good thing? The stats for how many players each club has used this season suggest it might not be.
The full stats are available via Transfermarkt and have been shared and discussed on Twitter, with most teams now having played 35 of their 38 games this season.
And they reveal that the teams who have used more players (Nottingham Forest are top on 33, Chelsea second with 32) have tended to struggle. The team who have used the fewest? League leaders and champions elect, Manchester City, who have used just 22 players in the league this season.
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Both Forest and Chelsea embarked on lavish spending in the summer and January transfer windows, signing an incredible number of players. But Steve Cooper's side are still in the relegation zone at the time of writing while Chelsea have endured an abysmal season, changing managers three times.
Current Stamford Bridge interim boss Frank Lampard admitted recently that the Chelsea squad is simply too big for tactical connections to be cultivated betweenn players.
He said: “We obviously have a big squad, which I think was done for all the right intentions, but of course to manage that and get a really tight, connected unit [is difficult].
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“[We need] connected people working together in a positive way. Then you can start talking about tactics, where are we going on the pitch.
“If you don't have that it is very tough and that has been very challenging. It's something that should and will be addressed going forwards."
A common misconception is that City have the deepest squad in the Premier League, though the numbers suggest it's the quality at Pep Guardiola's disposal that really counts, with the Etihad Stadium witnessing a very settled side under the Catalan, with players accustomed to his methods.
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Strugglers Wolves, Southampton and Bournemouth have all used more than 30 players this season, while the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle – all set for top four finishes – have used 26 or fewer.
How many players each Premier League club has used in 2022/23 season