Only three clubs around Europe have given less league minutes to national players this season than Chelsea, a new study has revealed.
Research by CIES Football Observatory has disclosed that just 16 per cent of the minutes played by Chelsea's first-team stars in the Premier League has come courtesy of English players.
Chelsea's tally is the second-worst in the Premier League with only Watford's nine per cent coming in lower, while Bournemouth are flying the flag at the other end of the table with an incredible 81 per cent of minutes afforded to home-grown talent.
PREMIER LEAGUE RANKINGS
| Rank | Team | Minutes to English players |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bournemouth | 81% |
| 2 | Burnley | 62% |
| 3 | Crystal Palace | 53% |
| 4 | Everton | 52% |
| 5 | Middlesbrough | 46% |
| 6 | Leicester | 45% |
| 7 | Hull City | 39% |
| 8 | West Brom | 38% |
| 9 | Liverpool | 37% |
| 10 | Southampton | 34% |
| 11 | Sunderland | 33% |
| 12 | Tottenham | 28% |
| 13 | Swansea | 26% |
| 13= | Man United | 26% |
| 15 | Stoke City | 25% |
| 16 | West Ham | 24% |
| 17 | Arsenal | 23% |
| 18 | Man City | 17% |
| 19 | Chelsea | 16% |
| 20 | Watford | 9% |
Chelsea's poor percentage has not been helped by the injury to captain John Terry, which has left Gary Cahill as the only regular English starter in the squad.