Arsenal’s Emmanuel Frimpong has underwent another operation on his knee and is expected to be out of action for around two months.

The 21 year old Ghanaian international picked up what is now his third serious knee injury in Fulham’s last Premier League match of the season against Swansea at the weekend.

Arsenal said on their official site

Frimpong will now begin his rehabilitation and is expected to return to training in around two months’ time.

The injury is to Frimpong’s right knee.

He had been on loan at Fulham since January, his third loan spell of his Arsenal career.

Bolton’s Stuart Holden is delighted to be making his comeback for the United States in an appearance next week which will mark the end of what has been described as two years of injury hell.

The Bolton Wanderer’s player said about his return

“I fully plan on taking this opportunity, taking the bull by the horns and not letting go. I have been given a great chance by Juergen and I don’t plan on letting anything get in my way.”

The Holden injury required 26 stitches after a tackle by Manchester United’s Jonny Evans back in March 2011 however it was the anterior cruciate ligament damage which kept him sidelined for so long. After six months out with that injury, the news that he had also got cartilage damage would come as another blow and sideline Holden even further.

Speaking about how national team manager Juergen Klinsmann kept in touch during his rehab, Holden added

“It was a big boost for me… he flew over to see me play at Leyland, a small town, he came to see me.

“Throughout my re-hab he checked in on me periodically, to see how my knee was getting along and how my spirit was, and for me it was nice to have that from a coach and to know I potentially had a future with the national team, if I put in the work.”

Holden made his return from injury for Bolton in January this year but hopes that his call-up to the national team means he will be included in the World Cup squad for Brazil next year.

Wigan’s Ali Al Habsi is set to undergo an operation on his shoulder today [Wednesday] after an old problem reoccurred.

Al Habsi’s spokesperson said

Ali Al Habsi, the Wigan and Omani international goalkeeper, has suffered a re-occurrence of the shoulder injury sustained earlier in the season.

He will be undergoing surgery immediately on Wednesday to ensure his fitness for the start of next season and will therefore be unavailable for Oman’s two World Cup qualifiers against Iraq and Jordan next month.

Al Habsi was used sparingly by Wigan in their run-in in a bid to manage the problem but they have been unable to avoid the player undergoing surgery to rectify it.

Andy Carroll has been ruled out of action for up to four months after it was discovered that the frontman’s heel injury was worse than first feared.

Andy Carroll, expected to join West Ham on a permanent deal after spending the season there on loan from Liverpool, picked up a heel injury which means he will miss England’s upcoming friendlies in the summer against the Republic of Ireland and Brazil as well as pre-season with his club and the season start.

Carroll fell awkwardly in the final game of the season which resulted in a sharp pain in his heel. The injury was originally expected to keep him sidelined for up to six weeks but after seeing a specialist he has now been ruled out for significantly longer.

He will not required surgery to correct the problem with rest being the best option in order to aid healing.

Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner, who has endured what can only be described as a torrid season, underwent surgery on the wrist injury he picked up playing for Juventus at the weekend.

The striker tweeted

Bendtner missed a large part of the 2012/2013 season after he suffered an adductor injury in December which also required surgery.

Speaking after the match in which Bendtner fell awkwardly on his arm resulting in a fractured wrist, Juventus manager Antonio Conte said

“It’s a shame for Bendtner, as he has been so unlucky. He damaged a tendon in his hip, then returned and hurt himself again. I wish him all the best, as he’s a good lad and a fine footballer.”

It is not clear yet what recovery time will be involved.

A statement on the official Juventus site said

Nicklas Bendtner underwent an operation on his left wrist earlier today [Sunday] at Turin’s Clinica Fornaca.

The 25-year-old was forced to exit the field of play in the closing stages of last night’s Sampdoria v Juventus clash after suffering a left radius fracture from an awkward fall in the opposition penalty area.

Professor Flavio Quaglia and Doctor Raffaele Prencipe were the men tasked with carrying out the procedure at Turin’s Clinica Fornaca.

Bendtner is expected to return to Arsenal although what his future holds is unclear.

He still has one year left remaining on his contract with the North London club.

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By Mark J. Fine

The Barclay’s Premier League 2012/2013 season has certainly come to a dramatic conclusion, and a couple of team strategies consistently showed throughout the year. Aston Villa evaded near-relegation by a strong finish with an extremely youthful side averaging only 24.5 years. Some of this may be due to the fact that their average injury age was 26.8, which is much closer to the overall league average of 27.3. So this may have been a case of youth by necessity.

Liverpool also began the season with a youthful team, but reversed this around the November time frame, finishing at 26.6. In stark contrast, Fulham seemed to favor more seasoned players, with a final average playing age of 30.9. Both Aston Villa and Fulham were outliers throughout the season, as the remainder of the league averaged in the 25.7 (Southampton) to 29.2 (Everton) range.

Also evident was the trend that began to emerge in mid-November, where injuries reported for teams at the top of the Premier League Injury Table were amongst players around 26 years of age. These also tended to be younger playing sides than those with fewer injuries. An interesting and unexpected result is that the injury ages of these sides were generally  less than the team playing age, mostly dropping below the diagonal break-even line.

The statistics were compiled as follows: The average age of each team as weighted by playing time is shown along the horizontal axis. The average age of each injured player comprising the Premier League Injury Table is shown along the vertical axis. The value in the current Premier League Injury Table is used for the relative size of each bubble. For this final tally, we’ve compiled all of the graphs going back to the beginning of October into a fluid animation showing how these changed over time:

The Final Premier League Injury Table for the 2012/13 seson can be found here.

By Mark J. Fine

Aston Villa will most likely finish the season as the youngest side in the Barclay’s Premier League at 24.5, with Fulham being the oldest at 30.9. The number of injured players on the Injury League list has dropped to 73 from 81 last week. No team’s Injury Age was significantly impacted by injury this week, with only seven team’s weighted injury age changing +/- 0.1 years.

The trend continues where injuries reported for teams at the top of the Premier League Injury Table seem to be amongst players around 26 years of age, as shown by the red ellipse – even though Liverpool appear to have crossed it at 24.5. These also tend to be younger playing sides than those with fewer injuries, which is grouped by the blue ellipse.

The statistics are compiled as follows: The average age of each team as weighted by playing time is shown along the horizontal axis. The average age of each injured player comprising the Premier League Injury Table is shown along the vertical axis. The value in the current Premier League Injury Table is used for the relative size of each bubble.

All statistics are inclusive of Barclay’s Premier League matches through 14 May, with injuries reported via The Physio Room at ~0850 GMT on 15 May.

The Final Premier League Injury Table for the 2012/13 season can be found here.

As the season draws to a close with only one Premier League game left, the final Injury League table has been completed and Newcastle sit atop as the team which suffered the most injuries over the course of the 2012/1013 season.

In contrast, Stoke were firmly rooted to the bottom of the table, some 194 points behind the league leaders.

Newcastle finished fourth last year with 218 points so they saw a significant increase this season.

Arsenal, who have finished in the runners-up spot for the past few seasons slipped to third as they enjoyed a better season on the injury front.

Last season’s winners, Manchester United, who finished top with 305 points [ a higher total than Newcastle topped with this season] fell to fifth place and last season’s bottom place team, Manchester City who had 50 points [some 30 points less than Stoke this season] found themselves finishing this season in tenth place.

The final Injury League table of the season is below [last season’s can be viewed here]:

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has confirmed that winger Callum McManaman is set to be out for up to 12 weeks with the ankle injury he picked up against Arsenal on Tuesday night.

With only one game left in the season the injury doesn’t come as much of a blow to the club but with the player likely to be the target of a number of high profile clubs after Wigan were relegated it could have some effect on the player’s immediate future.

The player is also likely to miss out on the U21 European Championships which will come as a massive blow.

Speaking to the press ahead of Wigan’s final game in the Premier League on Sunday, Martinez said

“It’s good news because we expected the worst but good news means he’s going to be out for the best part of three months, but he doesn’t need surgery and that’s really positive.

“But probably that puts him out of the under-21s, which is a real shame because he really deserved to finish the season with that experience.

“Callum is disappointed but it’s such a joy to see him playing his football. It’s a joy for everyone. For me he’s been one of the sparks of the season, and not just at Wigan.

“He’s a real diamond of English football. He’s got no reason to feel down at all.”