While the Premier League schedule is generally more forgiving in 2023/24, certain periods look more primed for rotation than others.
The first midweek round of Premier League matches isn’t until December, but Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League campaign begins after Gameweek 2, while the Champions League and Europa League group stages will start on September 19-21, after Gameweek 5.
So, with rest and rotation likely to occur in varying degrees, especially at the top teams competing in Europe, here’s a rundown of which outfield players played the most minutes and made the most starts last season.
MOST MINUTES
| Name | Team | Minutes |
| James Tarkowski | Everton | 3420 |
| Gabriel Magalhaes | Arsenal | 3407 |
| Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur | 3403 |
| Alex Iwobi | Everton | 3375 |
| James Ward-Prowse | Southampton | 3364 |
| Kieran Trippier | Newcastle United | 3333 |
| Marc Guehi | Crystal Palace | 3328 |
| Ezri Konsa | Aston Villa | 3324 |
| Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United | 3312 |
| Max Kilman | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 3305 |
Everton defender James Tarkowski was the only player who managed to play every single minute of the 2022/23 campaign.
However, some came very close, like Gabriel Magalhaes, who only missed 13 minutes of Premier League action all season, while Harry Kane was just 17 short.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah only narrowly missed out, having racked up 3290 minutes across the campaign.
MOST STARTS
| Name | Team | Starts |
| Gabriel Magalhaes | Arsenal | 38 |
| James Tarkowski, Alex Iwobi | Everton | 38 |
| Kieran Trippier | Newcastle United | 38 |
| James Ward-Prowse | Southampton | 38 |
| Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 |
| Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard | Arsenal | 37 |
| Ezri Konsa | Aston Villa | 37 |
| Jefferson Lerma | Bournemouth | 37 |
| Ben Mee, Rico Henry, Mathias Jensen | Brentford | 37 |
| Pascal Gross | Brighton and Hove Albion | 37 |
| Marc Guehi | Crystal Palace | 37 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 37 |
| Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United | 37 |
| Max Kilman | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 37 |
The aforementioned Tarkowski and Gabriel were among just six outfield players to start all 38 Premier League matches.
They were joined by Alex Iwobi, Kieran Trippier, James Ward-Prowse and Kane.
Meanwhile, the ability of the big clubs to rotate meant that only five attackers from the traditional ‘big six’ feature on the above lists – Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Bruno Fernandes, Salah and Kane – as they racked up an impressive number of starts.
A club-by-club breakdown – including the newly-promoted sides from the Championship – is below, with the top few performers in each category included.
CLUB-BY-CLUB
| Club | Most minutes played | Most starts |
| Arsenal | Gabriel (3420), Saka (3172), Odegaard (3108) | Gabriel (38), Odegaard, Saka (37) |
| Aston Villa | Konsa (3324), Mings (3150), Watkins (3109) | Konsa (37), Watkins (36), Mings (35) |
| Bournemouth | Lerma (3250), Smith (2945), Solanke (2845) | Lerma (37), Smith, Billing (34) |
| Brentford | Mee (3264), Henry (3236), Toney (2950) | Mee, Henry, Jensen (37) |
| Brighton and Hove Albion | Gross (3238), Dunk (3237), Caicedo (3132) | Gross (37), Dunk (36), Caicedo (34) |
| Chelsea | Havertz (2575), Thiago Silva (2351), Sterling (1895) | Havertz (30), Thiago Silva (26), Sterling (23) |
| Crystal Palace | Guehi (3328), Mitchell (2894), Andersen (2781) | Guehi (37), Mitchell, Doucoure (34) |
| Everton | Tarkowski (3420), Iwobi (3375), Mykolenko (2664) | Tarkowski, Iwobi (38), Gueye (32) |
| Fulham | Palhinha (3100), Robinson (3086), Ream (2894) | Palhinha, Robinson, Reed (35) |
| Liverpool | Salah (3290), Alexander-Arnold (2930), van Dijk (2835) | Salah (37), Alexander-Arnold (34), van Dijk (32) |
| Manchester City | Rodri (2907), Haaland (2770), De Bruyne (2424) | Rodri (34), Haaland (33), De Bruyne (28) |
| Manchester United | Fernandes (3312), Rashford (2880), Shaw (2550) | Fernandes (37), Rashford (32), Shaw (30) |
| Newcastle United | Trippier (3333), Schar (3200), Botman (3123) | Trippier (38), Schar (36), Botman, Burn (35) |
| Nottingham Forest | Gibbs-White (3145), Johnson (2935), Worrall (2257) | Gibbs-White (36), Johnson (33), Lodi (26) |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Kane (3403), Hojbjerg (3127), Son (2886) | Kane (38), Hojbjerg (35), Son (33) |
| West Ham United | Rice (3276), Bowen (3230), Soucke (2817) | Rice, Bowen (36), Soucek (32) |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Kilman (3305), Neves (3015), Semedo (2645) | Kilman (37), Neves (33), Semedo, Nunes (31) |
| Burnley | Cullen (3844), Brownhill (3579), Roberts (3529) | Cullen (43), Brownhill (41), Roberts (39) |
| Luton Town | Bell (4167), Morris (3693), Lockyer (3638) | Bell (46), Morris (44), Adebayo, Lockyer (42) |
| Sheffield United | Egan (3955), Ndiaye (3721), Norwood (3528) | Egan (44), Ndiaye (43), Norwood (39) |
*Outfield players only
There are plenty of Fantasy relevant names to appear in the midfield and forward positions, including Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Marcus Rashford, plus Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen.
At Chelsea, we should see improvement in the above numbers next term with the Blues free from any European distractions.
Four separate managers were used in 2022/23 – Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard – but none of them managed to find the right solution, often chopping and changing. That meant Kai Havertz made the most starts , but only featured 30 times from the off.
The same applies to Spurs assets, bar Kane of course, who has tended to start regardless in past seasons, increasing his Fantasy appeal.
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