In a Premier League campaign increasingly dictated by injuries, squad rotation and a jam-packed calendar, the ability of a club to cope when its first‑choice eleven are unavailable has become a decisive factor. The depth of a squad – that is, the quality and reliability of the players who sit beyond the regular starting lineup – can mean the difference between maintaining a title challenge and watching a season unravel.
How much talent does each club have beyond its established XI? How much of that talent is retained when a starter is swapped out for a backup?
Which positions are most robust and which are most vulnerable? And, perhaps most importantly, how often do managers actually turn to these alternatives during a typical season?
To answer these questions we built a comprehensive Squad Depth Index that incorporates a range of variables: the drop‑off in quality from the first to the second XI, the overall reserve quality, positional coverage, real‑world rotation patterns, and the readiness of players to step in at short notice. We also measured the impact that substitutes have when they come on, using Premier League data from the last two full seasons plus the current campaign, adjusting for sample size to avoid distortion from brief cameo appearances. A separate Competitive Depth Index was layered on top, factoring in each club's expected performance level (derived from Sky Sports' super‑computer forecast), the total market value of the squad (sourced from Transfermarkt), and the difficulty of upcoming fixtures, including short turnarounds and recent injury histories.
The results place Arsenal firmly at the summit of both indices. The Gunners also lead the Competitive Depth ranking, a finding that is hardly shocking given the resources Mikel Arteta has marshalled over the past summer.
But what exactly makes Arsenal's squad so deep and dependable compared with the rest of England's top flight? Our methodology combined Opta playing‑time statistics with Transfermarkt market valuations to pinpoint each club's regular starters and the strongest players available as replacements. The model then evaluates how well a team retains quality when moving from a first‑to‑second‑XI, the overall calibre of its reserves, the breadth of positional cover, the actual rotation employed by the manager, and the readiness of each player to contribute. For attacking substitutes we looked at goal involvement per 90 minutes, normalising the figures toward the league average based on the size of each player's substitute sample.
The Competitive Depth component also accounts for the standard a club is forecast to maintain, using Sky Sports' predictive engine, and the total market value of the squad. Arsenal deliberately bolstered their depth during the summer window. Although the club flirted with high‑profile targets such as Vinícius Júnior and Julián Álvarez, the actual signings – Bruno Guimarães and Ezri Konsa – have already added quality to an already talent‑laden back four and midfield.
Arteta also had to navigate a long list of injuries last season, and the hope is that the new arrivals will help mitigate similar problems this year. When we calculate the combined current market value of Arsenal's named substitutes who have featured in Premier League matches this season, the figure averages around £367 million.
No other club comes close. It is worth noting that Transfermarkt valuations tend to be about 36% lower than the amounts clubs actually paid this summer, meaning the true bench value for Arsenal could be nearer £500 million.
The three newly promoted sides – Hull City, Coventry City and Ipswich Town – sit at the bottom of the bench‑value table, while Brentford, perched just outside the traditional "big six," boast a respectable average bench value of £129 million. Arsenal's bench is an extraordinary pool of talent, but market value alone does not guarantee usefulness. To gauge actual impact we examined every player who has entered a Premier League match as a substitute over the past two full seasons and the current campaign. Goals and assists per 90 minutes were adjusted toward the league average to prevent a player who scored once in a ten‑minute cameo from climbing the rankings unfairly.
In terms of adjusted goal involvements per 90, Arsenal rank second only to Brighton. In raw totals, the Gunners lead the league. Since the start of the 2022‑23 season, Arsenal's substitutes have amassed 27 combined goals and assists over 4,340 minutes, equating to roughly 0.54 goal involvements per 90 minutes.
The demanding schedule that follows the international break will test the depth of every squad, and Arsenal will likely need to call upon the entire roster. However, depth is only valuable if a manager actually utilises it.
To explore usage patterns, we ranked every Premier League player by total minutes played and split them into three tiers: core XI, regular rotation players, and fringe substitutes. Tottenham Hotspur have already allocated a relatively high proportion of league minutes to players outside their core eleven, despite not competing on as many fronts as some rivals. It suggests that Roberto De Zerbi may still be experimenting to find his optimal lineup.
Manchester United, by contrast, see more than 88% of their minutes taken by the core XI – a figure only surpassed by Bournemouth and Everton – indicating that Michael Carrick has yet to fully trust his bench options. Arsenal and Manchester City stand out for their willingness to rotate: players ranked 12th‑22nd in minutes have contributed roughly 15% of total league minutes for each club.
To test the resilience of each squad, we simulated a scenario where every starter is unavailable. Using Premier League playing‑time data to identify the players most commonly trusted as starters, we built a standardised first XI for each club and then assembled the strongest possible second XI from the remaining personnel. Arsenal's modelled first XI carries an estimated value of £580 million, while their second XI is worth about £536 million – roughly 92% of the starting line‑up's value even when every starter is replaced. Manchester City, on the other hand, see a drop of ¤28.2 million between first and second XI, largely because the exclusion of Erling Haaland creates a steep value decline.
Aston Villa and Hull City are unique in that their second XI is actually more valuable than the usage‑based first XI, reflecting late‑summer transfer activity and the integration of new arrivals under Unai Emery and Sergej Jakirović. Depth issues usually surface when a specific position lacks adequate cover. To pinpoint these weak spots we broke each squad down into ten positional categories – goalkeeper, right‑back, centre‑back, left‑back, defensive midfield, central midfield, attacking midfield, left wing, right wing and centre‑forward – and assessed the two strongest credible options for each role (four for centre‑back, where two spots exist).
Even Arsenal, despite their overall strength, are thin on the left wing after the departures of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. Liverpool face an even sharper deficit on the opposite flank following Mohamed Salah's exit.
The poorest depth across the league is found in the attacking‑midfield positions of Brighton, Crystal Palace and Newcastle, although those teams often operate without a traditional number 10. Everton sit 20th in the league for centre‑forward depth, scoring a modest 36.1 on our scale after a failed attempt to sign Folarin Balogun. This does not imply that their starting striker, Thierno Barry, is the worst in the division; rather, the quality of the alternatives behind him is comparatively low.
When we look at overall squad balance, the champions Manchester City rank among the most well‑rounded, with only Aston Villa edging them on a pure Squad Depth Score that measures the strength of alternatives relative to the starting eleven. Youth development also plays a role. Our model includes young players who have either established a market value or earned Premier League minutes.
Chelsea possess the most valuable cohort of young first‑team talent, with seven players aged 21 or under collectively worth £229.5 million – all home‑grown or purchased prospects such as Willian Estávao and Geovany Quenda. Manchester City rank second with £190.9 million, followed by Brighton (£179.1m), Manchester United (£177.1m) and Bournemouth (£159.5m).
However, high value does not always translate to playing time: Brighton and Manchester United are among the top five clubs for minutes played by young prospects, whereas Manchester City’s youngsters have logged only 257 minutes and Arsenal’s two promising players have combined for 282 minutes. Finally, we ran a simulation that removed each player from a club's first XI one at a time, rebuilding the strongest possible lineup from the remaining squad. This exercise highlights which individuals and positions would cause the greatest structural disruption if unavailable. As expected, goalkeepers dominate the list, with Brighton's Bart Verbruggen emerging as the single most damaging loss in the league.
Outfield, however, there are notable names: Aston Villa's youngster George Hemmings, Bournemouth's Adrien Truffert and Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton each represent a significant potential gap for their respective clubs. In summary, Arsenal currently hold the deepest, most valuable bench in the Premier League, a status reflected in both market valuations and on‑field contributions. Their ability to retain roughly ninety‑two percent of starter value when forced to field a completely different XI sets them apart from rivals.
Yet, even the Gunners have positional blind spots, and other clubs such as Brentford, Aston Villa and Hull City demonstrate that depth can be built in varied ways. Managers who effectively rotate and trust their alternatives will be best positioned to navigate the relentless fixture congestion that defines modern top‑flight football.