The already daft 2022/23 fixture list is hitting its daftest point of all with cup commitments and the imminent return of European football making for a heady brew. Manchester United, for instance, have been playing every four games (at best) since returning to post-World Cup Premier League action on December 27 and will continue playing every four days (at best) until at least February 26.
Chuck in a Carabao game on December 21 and in little more than two months United will have played 19 games of football. Sympathy for a club of their standing will inevitably be in short supply, but it’s an absurd workload. And as the following totting up of players who’ve already played over 2,000 minutes of club football this season shows, their top players are already among the top flight’s busiest…
20. Aston Villa – 0
Nearest: Ezri Konsa 1761
That’s 20 minutes more than central-defensive partner Tyrone Mings but still less than any other club’s busiest player. With Villa improving fast in the league and out of both cups, they are one team who won’t be able to point to exhaustion as a reason for failure this season. They absolutely could lift themselves into European contention as long as Liverpool and Chelsea continue struggling to find their arseholes with both hands.
19. Bournemouth – 0
Nearest: Adam Smith 1818
A quirk of Bournemouth’s minutes is that if you limit it to just the Premier League they have no goalkeeper even over 1000 minutes, which is rare. Mark Travers has done 944 minutes, Neto 855. Is that interesting? Not really, but what do you want us to talk about – Chris Mepham’s 1612 minutes of Bournemouth action this season?
18. Brighton – 0
Nearest: Pascal Gross 1862, Solly March 1862
Lewis Dunk is only a couple of minutes behind, with Moises Caicedo also a couple of games shy of the 2000-minute mark. They’re going to go from none to four very quickly.
17. Fulham – 0
Nearest: Tim Ream 1888
Fulham have played the least amount of football of anyone this season, having successfully managed to be the only Premier League team to get knocked out in round two of the Carabao. Tim Ream isn’t bothered about the cup trivialities, though, devoting himself instead to playing all but two minutes of the Cottagers’ surprisingly effective Premier League campaign thus far.
16. Brentford – 0
Nearest: David Raya 1890
Rico Henry has been Brentford’s busiest outfield player, racking up 1778 minutes in 21 appearances with Ben…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…