Jake is a Football and Entertainment betting expert, with a Man City season ticket and a deep knowledge of reality TV betting angles
- Erik ten Hag's Manchester United side could have another tough season in terms of injuries
- Tottenham Hotspur will have travelled 12,815.41 miles (20,624.42 km) by the time the new season starts, the most of any Premier League club
- Manchester City lead the betting odds to win the league for the 5th year in-a-row
Erik ten Hag's Manchester United side could have another tough season in terms of injuries
Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United could be set for another tough season of injuries according to a study by OLBG on which Premier League clubs have travelled the most during their pre-season tour this summer.
Last night saw the club confirm that new signing Leny Yoro would miss the first three months of the season due to an injury he suffered in their pre-season defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.
United suffered a further blow with the confirmation that forward Rasmus Hojlund has also picked up an injury and is expected to miss the first 6 weeks of the season with a hamstring issue.
Last season’s FA Cup winners, who suffered the most separate injuries in the league in their previous campaign with 45, were second only to Tottenham Hotspur who travelled to manager Ange Postecoglou’s native Australia at the start of the summer.
However, United’s players have also had a hectic summer away from the club with Old Trafford supplying 10 players to international squads across the 2024 Copa America and Euro 2024. Only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal sent more players to compete for their countries this summer.
OLBG’s results on how far each Premier League club will have travelled during pre-season
Team | Round Trip Distance (KM) | Round Trip Distance (Miles) | Players at Copa America/Euro |
|---|---|---|---|
Tottenham Hotspur | 20,624.42 | 12,815.41 | 7 |
Man Utd | 20,587.30 | 12,792.35 | 10 |
Chelsea | 20,294.19 | 12,610.22 | 9 |
Brighton & Hove Albion | 19,241.15 | 11,955.89 | 10 |
Newcastle United | 18,802.46 | 11,683.30 | 6 |
Arsenal | 18,342.61 | 11,397.57 | 13 |
Aston Villa | 18,328.24 | 11,388.64 | 7 |
Bournemouth | 17,476.74 | 10,859.54 | 5 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers | 16,255.63 | 10,100.78 | 6 |
Man City | 15,566.43 | 9,672.53 | 15 |
Crystal Palace | 14,354.39 | 8,919.40 | 8 |
West Ham United | 14,262.10 | 8,862.06 | 7 |
Liverpool | 13,267.62 | 8,244.11 | 14 |
Nottingham Forest | 8,436.45 | 5,242.17 | 6 |
Fulham | 4,315.92 | 2,681.79 | 8 |
Ipswich | 4,076.19 | 2,532.82 | 0 |
Brentford | 3,189.74 | 1,982.01 | 6 |
Leicester | 1,871.71 | 1,163.02 | 4 |
Everton | 1,130.55 | 702.49 | 3 |
Southampton | 291.77 | 181.30 | 1 |
What the expert says...
How the table was created
Using data on each club’s pre-season schedule from the Premier League, the total distance covered was calculated based on the chain of venues that they would have to travel between, starting and ending at their home stadiums.
For example, starting at Old Trafford, Manchester United’s total distance covered over the summer started from the journey from their home stadium to Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim then to Scottish Gas Murrayfield, Edinburgh before moving on to SoFi Stadium in LA, Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego and Williams - Brice Stadium in South Carolina before returning to Old Trafford. This is the same method used for each team to make it fair.
Tottenham Hotspur will have travelled 12,815.41 miles (20,624.42 km) by the time the new season starts, the most of any Premier League club.
Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur will have the most distance travelled by the time the new Premier League campaign starts which could cause issues for them in the season.
Last campaign of course saw Spurs as the early frontrunners for the title with betting sites but a mixture of injuries, suspensions and general tiredness saw them eventually drop off in the second half of the campaign.
Chelsea, meanwhile, may have also been testing the limits of their players with the Blues second to United for injuries suffered last season (43) and were third in the table for distance covered behind Spurs and Ten Hag’s men.
Betting on Premier League Favourites
A spokesperson for OLBG said: “Players, managers and even fans are now speaking out about the fixture pile-up that’s affecting the top teams in football.
“Last season the Premier League saw clubs struggle to compete due to the number of injuries suffered while critics of Euro 2024 have claimed too many tired players made for boring matches.
“However, with all the commercial opportunities for clubs around the world this summer, teams are not resting for a second even during the break between seasons.
“The 20 sides of the Premier League are set to travel at least 155,000 miles, or just over 250,000 kilometres, before the 2024/25 season kicks off. That’s enough to travel around the circumference of the Earth almost six-and-a-half times.
“Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur have already given that a go this summer by travelling to Australia for a couple of friendlies but Manchester United could be the team most likely to look like they’ve been carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.
“Erik Ten Hag’s side suffered the most injuries last season, will be second to Spurs for distance travelled this summer, and sent 10 players to compete across the Copa America in the USA and Euro 2024 in Germany this summer.
“That’s a lot of travel and a lot of football and it could once again set them up for a gruelling campaign beset by injury setbacks.”
Manchester City lead the betting odds to win the league for the 5th year in-a-row
| Premier League Winner 24/25 | Odds | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Man City | 13/10 | 43.5% |
| Arsenal | 7/4 | 36.4% |
| Liverpool | 13/2 | 13.3% |
| Chelsea | 14/1 | 6.7% |
| Man Utd | 22/1 | 4.3% |
First Premier League Manager To Leave Betting Odds: Eddie Howe is the 9/2 favourite to be the first manager to leave their role with new season just over TWO WEEKS AWAY!
Football Author Information
Jake Ashton
Senior News Editor
