Graham Potter told to ‘get real’ after ‘exaggerated’ Chelsea claim – expert
The injury situation at Chelsea isn’t as bad as people are making out and figures around their setbacks are “exaggerated”.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
Howden claims that Chelsea suffered 97 injuries last season, 16 more than second-placed Manchester United.
The injury problems have continued for the Blues this season too, with Graham Potter currently without 10 key players at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have slid down the Premier League table as a result, and the club have been forced into a number of January signings to add depth to the squad.
However, Dinnery insists that Chelsea are actually below a handful of Premier League teams when comparing injuries and the number of matches played.
“It needs to be considered that Chelsea played more games than any other side last season,” He told Football Insider.
“They’ve been involved in Champions League football, the Super Cup, and they also went deep in domestic cup competition in that period.
“So that’s why it’s best to measure injury burden per 1000 minutes of competitive minutes played because it gives a much better understanding.
“In the 2021/22 season Chelsea only actually had 50 time-loss injuries reported across the full season, not 90.
“No Premier League team had more, but their injury burden worked out at 8.7 injuries per 1000 minutes played.
“Watford was 13.6, Manchester United was 9.3, Norwich was 9.8 and Leeds was 11.5.
“The numbers in isolation say Chelsea had the worst record, but Potter needs to be realistic and acknowledge that they’re only just above the Premier League average in terms of incident rates.
“The situation is being exaggerated and it’s not as bad as people are making it out to be.”
In other news, Football Insider sources reveal Arsenal attempted late hijack for Chelsea signing Mykhaylo Mudryk