Chelsea injuries up 44% on previous year, Howden finds
It calculates injury cost in top leagues over past five years
Chelsea experienced a 44% increase in injuries between June and October compared with the previous season, a report released on Monday has found. This year’s period covers their participation in the Club World Cup and its aftermath.
The figure, which goes some way towards vindicating Enzo Maresca’s rotation and his complaints about injuries, is contained in a report published by the insurance company Howden, which puts the cost of injuries to clubs in Europe’s top five leagues over the past five years at almost £3bn.
Maresca cited the impact of the Club World Cup in September when Chelsea were missing five defenders through injury and lost three successive games in the Champions League and Premier League. He made five changes for last week’s Champions League defeat at Atalanta, a setback followed by Saturday’s cryptic comments after a Premier League win against Everton that he had endured his “worst 48 hours” at the club owing to a lack of support from unspecified people.
