Manchester City use fewer substitutes than any other Premier League team

Manchester City used their substitutes’ bench less often than any team in the Premier League or the English Football League last season, PA news agency analysis reveals.

Substitutes accounted for only 4.5 per cent of Man City’s Premier League playing time in 2021-22, the lowest share of minutes in England’s top four tiers.

Apart from City, West Ham were the next-most reluctant to use their bench, awarding just 4.9 per cent of minutes to substitutes.

Leeds, on the other hand, relied heavily on replacements, with subs accumulating 8.9 per cent of league minutes across last season.

Managers in the Premier League and the EFL are allowed to make five substitutions per match this season, rather than the usual three.

Leading managers including City’s Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp have consistently been in favour of the change, while Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders told PA he believes its introduction has “saved football”.

Despite his support for five substitutes, Guardiola made fewer in-game changes than any other Premier League manager in 2021-22.

City’s total of 79 substitutions in 38 matches, at an average of just over two per game, was well below the next-lowest (95 by West Ham).

Guardiola decided against using his full allocation of subs in half of matches last season, including four games in which he did not make a single change.

The four matches in question were all away from home. City came out on top in two of them – against Manchester United and Brentford – but could only muster a point in the other two (at Crystal Palace and West Ham).

No other Premier League side went unchanged for an entire game more than once, with League One Shrewsbury the only EFL side to do so four times.

Guardiola partly