Arsenal, Aston Villa and Man Utd among Premier League clubs most impacted by injuries and possible World Cup fatigue

The World Cup is over but could Premier League clubs feel the effects of the tournament as they prepare for the new season? <p>The World Cup spanned six weeks and ended in success for Spain, who beat Argentina 1-0 in Sunday's final in New Jersey.</p><p>There were more than 150 Premier League players at the tournament, so how could their involvement impact their clubs?</p><h3>Man City had most players</h3><p>Manchester City were the best represented Premier League club, with 16 of their players featuring at the tournament.</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13563675/world-cup-2026-data-analysis-record-goals-bigger-fifa-ranking-gaps-older-starting-xis-travel-heat-penalties-substitutes-and-how-spain-won-it">Revealed: The trends that defined the World Cup</a></strong></li><li><a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13564837/world-cup-2026-golden-boot-race-kylian-mbappe-pulls-two-goals-clear-of-lionel-messi-ahead-of-world-cup-final"><strong>Golden Boot race: Kylian Mbappe beats Lionel Messi</strong></a></li></ul><widget id="3"></widget><p>That total included Spain captain Rodri, who started every game and won player of the tournament, as well as Marc Guehi, Nico O'Reilly, new signing Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki, all of whom reached the last four.</p><p>Arsenal had the next-highest number of players feature at the tournament, with 13, including Spain duo Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi as well England quartet Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.</p><p>Spurs, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester United were next on the list having all hit double figures for players who featured at the tournament.</p><p>Manchester City topped the list in terms of minutes played too, with a combined total of 5,595 putting them well ahead of next-highest Arsenal, who totalled 4,224, with Spurs third on 3,318.</p> <widget id="2"></widget><p>The Premier League player who played the most was actually Aston Villa's Emi Martinez, who played every minute for Argentina, including four chunks of extra-time, totalling 810 minutes.</p><p>His Argentina team-mate Alexis Mac Allister, of Liverpool, played the next most minutes, on 749, ahead of Rodri on 726.</p><p>How long players remained at the tournament is significant because FIFA have mandated a minimum of three weeks off for players before the new season, meaning those who went deep at the tournament will be reporting for pre-season much later than the rest.</p><p>The Premier League season begins in just over four weeks on Friday August 21, when Arsenal face Coventry live on <em>Sky Sports</em>.</p><h3>Injuries bite</h3><p>While Manchester City players played the most minutes at the World Cup, they mostly remained free of injury.</p><p>The same can't be said of some of their Premier League rivals.</p><p>Aston Villa lost Amadou Onana to an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which typically means a player misses between six and nine months.</p> <widget id="6"></widget><p>Arsenal's William Saliba picked up a back injury in France's semi-final defeat to Spain, while Saka and Rice also experienced fitness issues during the tournament.</p><p>Youri Tielemans, who has moved from Aston Villa to Manchester United, suffered a hamstring injury which caused him to miss Belgium's quarter-final loss to Spain.</p><p>Tielemans' new Manchester United team-mate Manuel Ugarte sustained a similar injury to Onana before Uruguay's group-stage exit.</p><h3>Arsenal most impacted overall</h3><p>When combining factors including minutes played, players used, injuries, potential injury durations and recency of appearances in an overall impact index, Arsenal come out as the most impacted club.</p> <widget id="4"></widget><p>Aston Villa, Manchester United and Spurs are next on the list, with Manchester City only fifth, despite having had more players feature at the tournament than any other side.</p><p>Those sides are now facing disrupted pre-season campaigns.</p><p>At the other end of the scale, the least impacted club was Coventry, who did not have a single player who featured at the World Cup, meaning Frank Lampard effectively has a full squad to work with in pre-season.</p> <widget id="5"></widget><p>The other newly-promoted teams, Hull and Ipswich, were lightly affected, while Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Brighton also feature at the lower end of the overall impact index.</p> <widget id="1"></widget>