Arsenal are usually applauded for giving their younger players a chance but this season there’s only been one team worse at it: Chelsea.

  • Maitland-Niles was Arsenal’s only teenager to feature in Premiership this season
  • Everton provided most amount of minutes for youngsters (2,140)
  • Manchester United provided second highest (1,924)

Apparently, Chelsea have given exactly zero minutes on the pitch to their teenage players during their title-winning season.

Probably because they’re all out on loan.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have only given one teenager – 19-year-old Ainsley Maitland-Niles – a single minute and that was against Sunderland on 29 October, which the Gunners won 4-1.

When you look at the other teams in the top seven, Everton have given their younger players 2,140 minutes, while Tottenham have handed their youth just 18.

Therefore, it does go to show that concentrating on the league is more important than giving youngsters a chance to most teams, Arsenal included it seems… although you wouldn’t know it from looking at their league position.