Arsenal Top Premier League Squad Depth Index — SkimNews
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- Arsenal top both the Overall Squad Depth Index and the Competitive Depth Index, with an average named-substitute market value of £367m (closer to £500m after a typical 36% transfer premium) — no club comes close.
- Arsenal's modelled second XI is worth £536m, retaining roughly 92% of their £580m starting XI, whereas Manchester City's second XI is £428.2m lighter than their first — the source attributes the gap largely to the drop-off without Erling Haaland.
- Arsenal rank behind only Brighton for substitute goal involvements per 90, with 27 goals and assists across 4,340 substitute minutes since the start of last season.
- Manchester United's core XI accounts for more than 88% of their minutes — third most concentrated in the league behind only Bournemouth and Everton — suggesting Michael Carrick is not using the squad depth available to him.
- Chelsea field the most valuable group of young first-team players in the division: seven players aged 21 or under worth £229.5m combined, including Willian Estevao and Geovany Quenda.
- Arsenal are flagged as severely lacking left-wing cover after selling Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, while Liverpool are worse on the opposite flank following Mohamed Salah's departure, and Everton rank 20th for centre-forward depth.
- Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen is deemed the single biggest loss in the entire league when unavailable, with goalkeepers dominating the list of most structurally damaging absences.
Why it matters: Arsenal's roughly £500m bench and 92% value retention in a worst-case second XI give them a structural cushion most rivals lack — decisive in a season already defined by injuries and fixture congestion. By contrast, Manchester City's Haaland-dependence (£428m second-XI drop-off) and Man Utd's concentration of minutes in their core XI expose fragility that the index makes measurable rather than anecdotal.
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