Arsenal and Tottenham: Premier League Injury Woes

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The Gunners have sadly confirmed that Gabriel Jesus sustained an ACL injury during the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Sunday. He will be undergoing surgery in the upcoming days.

The Brazilian joins first-team regulars Bukayo Saka and Ben White on the sidelines, while Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ethan Nwaneri are also ruled out - with Riccardo Calafiori undertaking a late fitness test.

Spurs go into the game with nine players sidelined - including the majority of their first-choice backline - with the likes of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies out of contention.

We asked Premier Injuries to crunch the numbers on how their injury problems compare to those of other Premier League sides.

As it stands, Brighton are nursing the most injuries with 12 players sidelined, followed by Bournemouth, Newcastle and Tottenham. Arsenal have six players in the treatment room.

In terms of the season so far, the north London sides are among the worst affected with only Brighton and Aston Villa suffering more injuries leading to a player missing one or more games.

That number could include the same player two or more times if the player has suffered more than one injury or suffered a recurrence of the same injury after returning to competitive play, or being included in the first-team or U21 matchday squad.

Interestingly, high-flying Nottingham Forest have registered only eight injuries all season - four fewer than any other team. League leaders Liverpool are also among the least-affected sides.

What about the severity of the injuries? That's where the graphic below comes in, showing combined days lost to injuries for each Premier League club.

Brighton sit top, their 23 separate injuries amounting to a whopping 914 days lost to injuries. Spurs rank second with 655 days, with Arsenal in fifth on 567 days - behind Ipswich and Crystal Palace.

At the other end of the table, West Ham have lost the fewest days, while Newcastle, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Fulham have also avoided too many long lay-offs.

The data omits injuries that carried into this season from the previous campaign. In the case of United, that includes significant injuries to Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Leny Yoro.

Of course, the numbers do not reflect the importance of the players sidelined.

When looking at how Arsenal and Tottenham lined up when they last faced each other, the team's affect areas are laid bare: the Gunners' primary right flank and Spurs' defence.

Have Arsenal and Tottenham suffered more injuries than last season?

The data reveals Tottenham have suffered fewer injuries (-9 per cent) and lost fewer days from sidelined players (-5 per cent) this season, compared with at the same stage last year.

Conversely, Arsenal have suffered a 33 per cent rise in injuries but that has only accounted for a one-per-cent rise in days lost.