Tottenham Hotspur’s Nigerian-born midfielder, Bamidele Alli has been cited among the large number of players who have copped injuries back in action for their clubs after the Russia 2018 World Cup.
Sports247.ng gathered that Alli’s case is noted in a startling survey that revealed that the number of injuries suffered by Premier League players involved in last summer’s World Cup has increased by 44 per cent.
Alli was one of the star under focus, as international insurance broker, JLT looked at all EPL players who played at Russia 2018 and analysed how many games they have missed with their clubs because of injuries.
The study found out that 112 of those players suffered injury absences this season, missing a game rather than just training sessions.
That was compared with the same during the first half of 2017-18, when no significant tournament held during the summer, and the number of those who missed a game at some point was only 78.
Also cited is Alli’s Spurs teammate, Harry Kane as well as Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson, who have all suffered significant injury absences.
While Manchester City’s Belgium star Kevin de Bruyne was also listed, a stark contrast came from Virgil Van Dijk, whose Netherlands team failed to make it to the World Cup, and he has been largely injury-free, despite playing 36 times for Liverpool in all competitions this season.
The study also looked at injury records of all 20 Premier League teams in the first half of this season and found that West Ham United had the worst record, with on average more than seven players unavailable.
Arsenal were next worst, with an average of six-and-a-half players injured and not selected, followed by Spurs, Manchester City, Watford and Manchester United – who have had on average just over four players injured and absent for each game.
That totaled up to more than 1,000 days absent within the West Ham squad, more than four times as many days as Wolves, who have the best injury record since August with less than 250 days missed.
Knee injuries remain most regular sustained, with 75 over the course of the season so far, and they also take the longest average time to recover from at 63 days.
