record of the Premier League’s stressed players.
Here, therefore, are the 10 Premier League outside people to have racked up the most days this year. Golfers are undoubtedly absent because they don’t find tired, right? However, anyone else’s every moment of playing in any competition for the club and country since the start of the season is good sport.
That naturally means a record dominated by the German team, but thats also kind of the place. The most arduous and busy of all their young men. Having started and generally finished 28 of the 31 Premier League games this season, he has had a rare opportunity to rest with either club or nation.
10 ) Declan Rice ( Arsenal and England ) 4227 minutes
The little handful of big games hes missed for both Arsenal and England you generally get explained by suspension or the broken toe he suffered around the November global break, including the unusual luxury of watching an overall Premier League game from the bench against Nottingham Forest.
Like most of Arsenal’s key players, he did at least get some rest in the Champions League, playing only a short time at the end of the largely unimportant final group game against Girona and only for about an hour or so before the crucial second leg against PSV in the final 16. Although he was taken off after 75 minutes, his outrageous free-kick double against Real Madrid did not allow him to rest for the dead rubber encounter with Brentford.
9 ) Ryan Gravenberch ( Liverpool and Netherlands ) 4234 minutes
Did look a tad knackered in February/March but Liverpools exit from all other competitions means hes now likely to start all 38 Premier League games on the way to the title. Given that he didn’t last season look anything like a true Premier League player, that is quite impressive. Withdrew from the Dutch squad after losing to Spain in the Nations League quarter-final due to an injury that healed upon his return to Liverpool.
8 ) Noussair Mazraoui ( Man Utd and Morocco ) 4309 minutes
Played in six positions this season for a rotten Manchester United, starting 29 Premier League games, featuring for every minute of the failed FA Cup campaign, playing 10 full 90-minute games in Europe and even twice coming off the bench in the Carabao seemingly just for sh*ts and giggles. He had to take a month off for Morocco because of his health problems, but he returned in November and March with four more 90-minute stints, switching between left-back and right-back, because… Despite his clumsy PSG and Newcastle exertions, Mohamed Salah ( Liverpool and Egypt ) 4396 minutes
Climbing steadily. Salah has started every one of Liverpools 32 Premier League games this season and none of his substitutions have occurred before the 73rd minute. Rested alongside the majority of Liverpool’s big guns for the PSV dead rubber at the conclusion of the Champions League league season, but otherwise played all but half of the game.
There is still a good deal of Carabao action, including the final eight minutes of Tottenham’s two-legged semi-final, which is technically the entire final.
Indeed, all that is keeping Salah from the business end of this list is a lighter-than-typical international schedule. He has only made five international appearances this year, compared to the totals that some others have predicted, because he was released early from the October break and not even called up for the November games. Youri Tielemans ( Aston Villa and Belgium ) 4437 minutes
started every Villa Premier League and Champions League game, with the exception of three victories coming in the 70th minute. He was spared Carabao Cup action but has been ever-present again in Villas run to the FA Cup semi-finals. In addition, Belgium rested him for their November Nations League games, both of which Belgium lost. He was suspended for the 3-1 defeat to Ukraine, but he was back in harness for the full 90 minutes of the second-leg victory.
5 ) Josko Gvardiol ( Man City and Croatia ) 4498 minutes
Manchester City signed one of the best young centre-backs in the world and Pep Guardiola promptly turned him into a relentless goalscoring force of a left-back, which is a very good bit. This season,
has only missed one game in both his City’s Carabao games and the Premier League. which seems excessive.
Also near ever-present across eight games and four international breaks for Croatia, who foolishly still appear to consider him a centre-back.
4 ) Diogo Dalot ( Man United and Portugal ) 4683 minutes ]Left-back, right-back, left-wing, right-wing. He has been present on either side of the pitch or the other, whether or not he has worked for United Managers. Uniteds Mr Dependable.
If he hadn’t whackily gotten himself 150 minutes of rest by getting sent off after an hour of the FA Cup match at Arsenal, he might be heading for the top spot. There is no respite, which
catches the eye with Dalot. No competition where he is spared. He has started at least an hour of each of United’s FA Cup and Carabao Cup games, starting 10 and playing 45 minutes of the other one of United’s 11 Europa League matches while playing 10 of the Premier League games for which he was available. In Community Shield, he even spent 90 minutes.
In summary, then: the only United game in which he has not been involved at all was the one for which he was suspended. No wonder he was sent off just to relax his trotters. It must be a good thing for United that they are the owners of three of the four busiest Premier League players this year and that they both appear to be utterly unavoidable.
Portugal are, at least, a bit more forgiving, allowing Dalot the rare luxury this season of watching an entire game from the bench against Scotland while requiring a full 90 from him in only three of their other seven games. Despite Saliba missing two games entirely due to injury, being rested for Arsenal’s final league game of the Champions League and the completely irrelevant second leg against PSV, and saving himself 150 minutes of Premier League time with that red card at Bournemouth, which was, like all Arsenal red cards, completely unrepentant, is remarkable. This is a center-backs lot, in part
. They are so very rarely the players given a few minutes rest here and there at the end of games long won, or when the manager is looking to shake things up in the closing stages.
And you can add international duty here as well, with seven Nations League appearances made for France. Hasn’t missed a single minute of Liverpool’s Premier League campaign, including playing every single minute of the seven Champions League league games that were important as well as the entirety of an exhausting and ultimately futile pair of last-16 games against Paris St-Germain.
Youd imagine some kind of Premier League rest might be coming his way given Liverpools leadbut given he wasnt rested for Southampton at home in between those PSG games you do wonder. And he obviously appears to have the potential to use a breather. You wouldn’t have noticed that
had not played in the Carabao until the semi-finals, but he did play both legs against Spurs and appeared to be on the pitch throughout the final against Newcastle. Looked uncharacteristically off the pace at various times in a tense win over Everton and does look like he could do with a bit of a rest once the title formalities are formalised.
A red card in the final minute of a game against Hungary saved him from some Nations League work for the Netherlands, but he was still allowed over 500 minutes to play there. 1 ) Bruno Fernandes ( Man Utd and Portugal ) 4924 minutes
There are a few striking things about this Bruno effort, which included being asked to play every minute in all the games before being asked to do so.
Firstly, hes clearly completely indispensable to Man United despite it not really being entirely clear Ruben Amorim knows precisely how best to use him in his system. He only knows that he must use him because he constantly demonstrates. Particularly against Arsenal, but also especially  , and then once more against Ipswich.
Secondly, its doubly impressive to have racked up more minutes than any other outfielder in the Premier League during a season where youve been sent off not once, not twice but thrice. It takes some effort, even with one of those being reversed and not being further complicated by suspension. Bruno has only missed one game of the Europa League this season while starting every Premier League game for which he wasn’t suspended, with the final minutes at Porto and the ensuing suspension against Fenerbahce.
He even started against Newcastle United when some of his fellow senior teammates were rested ahead of the vital second leg v Lyon. Despite his own considerable efforts,played all 330 minutes of United ‘ exhausting and futile FA Cup defense as well as full 90 minutes in the Carabao against both Leicester and Tottenham. with some cool 630 minutes of Portugal’s Nations League action thrown in.
By definition, there are few players on this list their teams can cope without, but few feel more important to the whole feel of their teams than Bruno and Man United. And that’s probably because they still look incredibly stale even when he’s there, rather than because they don’t. Only Federico Valverde and Jules Kounde have played more football this year in Europe’s top five leagues, according to
.
