In a Premier League campaign increasingly defined by injuries, squad rotation and a jam-packed fixture list, the ability of a team to cope when its first‑choice eleven are unavailable has become a decisive factor. The question that fans, analysts and managers alike keep asking is: how much quality lies beyond the usual starting line‑up at each club? How much of that quality is retained when a starter is swapped out?
Which positions are the strongest and which are the most vulnerable? And how often do managers actually tap into the depth they possess?
To answer these queries we built a comprehensive Squad Depth Index that pulls together several strands of data. Sky Sports combined Opta’s minute‑by‑minute playing‑time records with match‑event statistics and merged them with Transfermarkt’s estimated market values for every registered Premier League player.
This hybrid model allowed us to pinpoint each club’s established first XI, identify the best available alternatives, and then evaluate how much quality is preserved when the line‑up shifts from first to second tier. The Index also measures the overall quality of reserve players, the breadth of positional cover, the real‑world rotation that managers have employed, and the readiness of squad members to step in at short notice. For attacking substitutes we examined their impact in the Premier League over the previous two full seasons plus the current campaign, adjusting the figures for sample size to avoid inflating a player’s rating based on a single cameo. In addition, a Competitive Depth component was added, which factors in the performance standard each club is expected to maintain (derived from Sky Sports’ super‑computer forecasts) and the total market value of the squad.
Finally, a preparedness model compared each club’s depth against upcoming fixture congestion, short turn‑around matches and the injury histories from the last season and the current one. When all the pieces were assembled, Arsenal emerged as the clear leader of the Overall Squad Depth Index and also topped the separate Competitive Depth Index. While this result may not come as a shock given the Gunners' recent transfer activity, it does raise the question: what exactly makes Mikel Arteta’s squad so robust compared with the rest of the English top flight?
During the summer window Arsenal focused heavily on bolstering depth. After flirting with high‑profile targets such as Vinícius Júnior and Julián Álvarez, they secured the signings of Bruno Guimarães and Ezri Konsa.
These additions plug gaps in a back four and a midfield already brimming with talent, and they provide reliable alternatives should injuries strike. Arteta also endured a long list of injuries last season, a situation the club hopes to avoid this term.
A striking statistic emerges when we look at the market value of Arsenal's bench players used in Premier League matches this season: on average they are worth £367 million. No other club comes close.
It is worth noting that Transfermarkt valuations tend to be lower than actual transfer fees; Premier League clubs paid roughly 36% above these estimates in the most recent window. Adjusted for that premium, the bench’s value approaches £500 million – a staggering amount for players who are not regular starters.
By contrast, the three newly promoted sides – Hull City, Coventry City and Ipswich Town – possess the lowest average bench value. Mid‑table clubs such as Brentford sit in an interesting middle ground, with an average bench value of about £129 million, just outside the traditional "big six". However, market value alone does not tell the whole story.
To gauge whether these alternatives are genuinely useful, we examined how each substitute has performed when brought on in league matches over the past two seasons and the current one. Goals and assists per 90 minutes were normalised against league averages and weighted by the size of the sample to prevent a single short cameo from skewing the rankings. On a per‑90‑minute basis for goal involvements (goals plus assists), Arsenal rank second only to Brighton & Hove Albion, and in raw totals they sit at the very top. Since the start of the 2023‑24 season, Arsenal’s bench players have contributed 27 combined goals and assists across 4,340 substitute minutes, equating to an adjusted rate of roughly 0.54 goal involvements per 90 minutes.
The upcoming schedule underscores why such depth matters. After the international break, Arsenal face a sequence of high‑intensity matches that will test the stamina of the entire squad. Having numbers on paper is one thing; actually utilising those numbers is another. To assess usage, we ranked every Premier League player by total minutes played and split them into three tiers.
Tottenham Hotspur, for example, have already distributed a relatively high proportion of minutes beyond their core eleven, despite not competing on as many fronts as some rivals. This may reflect Roberto De Zerbi’s ongoing search for his optimal line‑up.
Manchester United’s core eleven account for more than 88% of the club’s minutes – a figure only surpassed by Bournemouth and Everton – suggesting that while United have the depth on paper, manager Michael Carrick has yet to rely heavily on rotational players. In contrast, Arsenal and Manchester City see their 12th‑to‑22nd‑ranked players contributing roughly 15% of total minutes, indicating a more balanced rotation strategy. To illustrate the impact of a full‑scale injury crisis, we simulated a scenario where every first‑team starter is unavailable.
Using Premier League playing time to identify the most trusted starters, we constructed a standardised first XI for each club and then built the strongest possible second XI from the remaining squad members. Arsenal’s modelled first XI is valued at about £580 million, while the second XI is worth roughly £536 million – meaning the Gunners retain around 92% of the estimated value of their starting line‑up even when all eleven starters are replaced. Manchester City, on the other hand, see a drop of £428.2 million between their first and second XI, largely because the removal of Erling Haaland creates a massive valuation gap.
Two clubs – Aston Villa and Hull City – actually possess a second XI that is more valuable than their usage‑based first XI, reflecting late‑window signings that have yet to be fully integrated. Depth issues often become acute when a specific position lacks adequate cover. To pinpoint these weak spots, we broke each squad down into ten roles: goalkeeper, right‑back, centre‑back, left‑back, defensive midfield, central midfield, attacking midfield, left‑wing, right‑wing and centre‑forward.
For each role we identified the two strongest credible options, and for centre‑back we considered four players (two starter slots). Even Arsenal, despite their overall strength, show a pronounced deficiency on the left wing after the departures of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. Liverpool face an even sharper problem on the opposite flank following Mohamed Salah’s exit.
The most vulnerable positions across the league are the attacking midfield roles at Brighton, Crystal Palace and Newcastle, where the traditional number‑10 is either absent or under‑utilised. Everton rank near the bottom – 20th – for centre‑forward depth, scoring a meagre 36.1 points after their failed pursuit of Folarin Balogun. This does not imply that their starter, Thierno Barry, is the worst striker in the division; rather, it indicates that the quality of the alternatives behind him is comparatively weak. When looking at overall squad balance, the Premier League champions (Manchester City) are among the most well‑rounded, with only Aston Villa edging them out on a pure Squad Depth Score that measures the strength of alternatives relative to the first team.
Youth development also plays a role in depth. Chelsea boast the most valuable cohort of young first‑team players in the league, with seven individuals aged 21 or under collectively worth £229.5 million.
Manchester City rank second with £190.9 million, followed by Brighton, Manchester United and Bournemouth. However, high market value does not always translate into minutes on the pitch. Brighton and Manchester United are the only clubs among the top five in youth value that also rank in the top five for actual playing time. By contrast, Manchester City’s young players have logged just 257 minutes, while Arsenal’s two under‑21 talents have accumulated 282 minutes – still more than Leeds United’s solitary minute for a youngster.
Finally, we simulated the removal of each player from every club’s first XI to see which absences would cause the greatest structural disruption. Unsurprisingly, goalkeepers dominate the list of most critical losses, with Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen identified as the single biggest blow to any side if he were unavailable. Among outfield players, Aston Villa’s youngster George Hemmings, Bournemouth’s Adrien Truffert and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton emerge as the most consequential absences for their respective clubs.
The data underscores that while many Premier League clubs possess impressive depth on paper, the true test lies in how effectively managers rotate their squads, how injuries align with fixture congestion, and whether the quality of bench players can translate into tangible contributions on the pitch. As the season progresses, clubs with both high‑valued and high‑usage depth – notably Arsenal, Manchester City and the emerging Brentford – are best positioned to navigate the inevitable challenges of a demanding campaign.