Recently, Pep Guardiola complained about the fixture schedule, saying it was unacceptable for Manchester City to play in the FA Cup semi-finals three days after they were out of the Champions League. OPTA, an authoritative data agency, has listed a set of data, which we share with you from Liverpool's perspective:
1: The average time between matches between the top three in the Premier League in all competitions this season:
--Liverpool: 116 hours and 18 minutes (about 4.8 days), the fewest of any of the 20 teams in the Premier League.
--Manchester City: 121 hours and 25 minutes (about 5 days), the second least;
--Arsenal: 134 hours and 41 minutes (about 5.6 days), the sixth fewest
2: The number of matches in the Premier League top three in all competitions this season:
Liverpool: 53 games, most in the table. Manchester City are second with 52 games, Arsenal are fifth with 47 games, and Tottenham Hotspur is the least with 35 games (just three outside the Premier League).
3: If you only compare European teams with relatively good results this season, Liverpool's average time between games is still the least, and the time between games between games of other league giants is much higher than that of the Premier League. For example, Paris, which is still fighting on three fronts and has advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League, has an average match interval of about 22 hours longer than Liverpool.
4: Liverpool in all competitions this season:
--Ranked first with 265 starting rotations (219 for Manchester City and 124 for Arsenal);
--Ranked first in average of 5 starts per game (4.2 for Manchester City and 2.6 for Arsenal);
- Ranked second with a total of 35 players (28 for Manchester City, 27 for Arsenal);
--Tied third with 29 starters (Arsenal 25, Manchester City 24);
- Ranked sixth in average minutes played per player with 1,678 minutes (second for Manchester City with 2,037 minutes and third with Arsenal with 1,932).
Of course, Liverpool has a lot of rotation and uses a lot of players, in addition to Uncle Scum's trust in the rotation of players and the subjective reasons for boldly using young players, there are also objective reasons for many injuries and the possibility of more rotation in the Europa League.
5: Liverpool have played a total of 35 players this season, with an average of 1,678 minutes per player, which looks much lower than Manchester City's 2,037 minutes and Arsenal's 1,932 minutes.
I looked up the details of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal and compared the number of players who played more than 3,000 minutes.
What is the concept of 3,000 minutes? At present, 33 rounds of the Premier League have been played, and if each game is played for 90 minutes, the total is 2970 minutes. 3,000 minutes is the equivalent of playing only in the Premier League this season, but playing 90 minutes in every round of the Premier League.
--Liverpool have played more than 3,000 minutes in all competitions this season, with a total of 4 players (Van Dijk 3623, Dias 3209, McAllister 3074, and Gomez 3009 in fourth place).
Other Liverpool mains: Nunez 2876, Salah 2759, Alexander-Arnold 2198, Robertson 1867, Jota 1711.
Last start and good performance: Gakpo 2683, Elliott 2446, Kunza 2108, Hrafenberg 1690.
- Nine players have played more than 3,000 minutes in all competitions (Foden 3,615, Rodri 3,549, Dias 3,459, Walker 3,303, Haaland 3,273, Akanji 3,213, Ederson 3,152, Alvarez 3,125, B 3,032).
- Arsenal have played more than 3,000 minutes in all competitions, with a total of 8 players (Saliba 4051, Gabriel 3912, Rice 3817, Ben White 3652, Odegaard 3594, Bukayo Saka 3507, Kai Havertz 3386, Raya 3270).
Heading into the final month of the season, Liverpool's main players are probably the best in fitness of the top three, does that give you a point of confidence to compete for the title?
Attached: Detailed statistics of Liverpool players' game time this season: