Premier League season resumes Stephen's Day with issue of player burnout on agenda

Premier League teams face the unprecedented situation of returning from a mid-season World Cup as the season resumes on St Stephen's Day with the issue of player burnout on the agenda.

Tottenham’s Monday lunchtime game at Brentford comes just eight days after a final in which Spurs duo Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero both featured.

Here, the PA news agency’s player burnout study looks at the clubs and players most likely to be affected by fatigue as the domestic campaign clicks into gear again.

Regarding the World Cup itself, Manchester City are far and away the team most likely to suffer.

While Norway’s absence means star striker Erling Haaland goes into Thursday’s League Cup clash with Liverpool on 39 days’ rest, save for a friendly against Girona in which he scored, City led the league with 16 World Cup players combining for 5,180 minutes of action.

They also covered a combined 486 kilometres during those games, 99km more than rivals Manchester United in second place on that list, while almost 40 per cent of their playing time (1,973 minutes) came in the knockout stages from December 3rd onwards.

United’s 13 World Cup players barely broke 4,000 minutes, combining for 4,029. Tottenham’s 11 racked up 4,107 minutes but, with 652 of those going to France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, covered a total of 365km.

Chelsea are the last of the teams likely to feel a major impact, with 12 players combining for 3,681 minutes and 331km.

After that there is a significant drop-off, with league leaders Arsenal having 10 players at the tournament but only England’s Bukayo Saka even appearing in the quarter-finals.

Their players shared just 1,928 minutes and 164km – although those numbers were kept down by a group-stage injury to Brazil