February 2 – Latest CIES Football Observatory figures show that in the Premier League Manchester United, Newcastle and Bournemouth have each used 28 players so far this season, while Arsenal have used just 21. Across Europe’s other Big 5 leagues Nice in France’s Ligue 1 have used more players that any other club with 33.
CIES says that its previous research has suggested that sticking to a core group of players is a characteristic of the leading clubs in the leagues. It’s latest figures seem to bear this out again.
No team that heads the table in its respective league has used more than 24 players. The figures are 20 for Napoli, 22 for Leicester and Bayern Munich, 23 for Paris St-Germain and 24 for Barcelona.
On the basis that the more players you use the more likely you are to be in a lower league position, Manchester United, who currently lie fifth in the Premier League, on this statistical analysis may in fact be outperforming the numbers.
So far, clubs at the bottom of the table in their respective league on average fielded 26.0 players. This figure is 22.2 for clubs heading the table, 23.6 for the top three ranked teams per league and 25.3 at big-5 league level.
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