What is behind the injury crisis in the Premier League?

Is it possible to establish a reason for the succession of injuries, or is the reality more abstract?

Matt Newsom, the BBC’s rugby league correspondent, believes it is down to a combination of factors.

“First, offense speeds have been sped up by monitoring offenses more thoroughly, and the reward for those teams is often a replay — more commonly known as a six-again — rather than the old-fashioned penalty and break play,” Newsome said.

Teams that have been “stoked” can feel like they have been put on a treadmill that someone has pedaled backwards, while someone intermittently hits them with a baseball bat.

“It’s repetitive efforts as well as repetitive efforts, and because it’s so new, it’s been hard for teams to adjust conditioning to it. The ball goes up in playing time, it seems like it’s a lot less, and the other little moments of rest and recovery are really reduced by the shot clocks.”

Factor in an incredibly wet winter, with some pitches experiencing deluge, and you have a perfect storm.

“Some combined football pitches and even dedicated rugby league pitches have specialist drainage systems that can mitigate some of these issues but even the best ones have had difficulties,” Newsom added.

“Heavy courts take their toll, wearing down players who are already feeling their way into the new season and back into these more physical sports.

“The science behind injuries may not be complete yet, but these two factors – a faster game and heavy surfaces – can be mitigating circumstances in the abundance of players who collapse.”

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