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City top injury league

When City suffered their midseason wobble a lot was written about the loss of key pair Vincent Kompany (suspension) and Yaya Toure (African Cup of Nations). Whilst the loss of both hurt City at the time one area that City were not hit by this season was injuries.

And for good reason. I came across this article by the excellent Sporting Intelligence website (in conjunction with data from Physioroom.com), in which it shows that City suffered the least in terms of time lost:

As our league table below shows, City suffered the least number of significant injury episodes (seven), with the players involved in those missing the fewest number of combined days to injuries during the season (186 days).

The single most significant injury for City was Nigel De Jong's ankle problem. That kept him out for 39 days in August and September. City's six other significant injuries involved Sergio Aguero (twice, groin in October, then foot in March-April), Aleksandar Kolarov (groin November to January), Vincent Kompany (calf, March), Joleon Lescott (groin, March-April) and Pablo Zabaleta (thigh, March).

This is key of course; allowing both for rotation of the squad but more importantly the continuity of selection - particularly of the core of the side - was key for Roberto Mancini as City hauled themselves back in the title race. Contrast this with United who were blighted by injury for the majority of the season.

I'm currently looking at some of the numbers around minutes played and who they key contributors were this past season. I hope to have something up towards the end of this week.