Last autumn, the Premier League was bracing itself for a season like no other – with a World Cup shoehorned into the middle of a packed club schedule. When the top flight paused for the World Cup, Arsenal were five points clear at the top. Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager, described it as “unprecedented”, while former Tottenham boss Antonio Conte called it “crazy” and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp said it made him “angry” whenever he talked about it.
When the season concluded, Manchester City were the champions by five points. For Arteta and Arsenal, the facts are difficult to ignore. Having averaged 2.64 points per game before the World Cup, they averaged just 1.96 afterwards. No other Premier League club experienced a bigger drop off in results. And it seems to be in defence where they suffered most, conceding 1.33 goals per game after the resumption, having let in a miserly 11 in 14 games prior to the tournament.
Erling Haaland, Manchester City forward, benefited from a mid-season break as Norway did not qualify for the World Cup. After scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Leeds on 29 December, he said “to watch other people score to win games at the World Cup kind of triggers me”. He ended on a record 36 Premier League goals. It was a similar tale for many of the leading strikers in the English top flight, with only three of the division’s nine top goalscorers actually starting a game in Qatar. Marcus Rashford, Manchester United forward, even proved to be a catalyst for the second half of his season. Having netted three times during the tournament, he went on a remarkable scoring run with 16 goals in 17 games across all competitions after returning to his club.
Leicester City went into the World Cup break in high spirits after a run of four wins in five matches had lifted them up to 12th in the table. However, their star man James Maddison picked up an injury to the back of his knee just before the World Cup and returned with trouble at the front of his knee. In his absence, Leicester resumed their Premier League campaign with four successive defeats and only went on to taste victory three more times after that, with Brendan Rodgers departing on 2 April and Leicester’s relegation sealed on Sunday. Maddison scored just three times after recovering from injury and only one of those came in the last 15 matches of the campaign.
Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira was sacked on 17 March after winning just once more in the league after their return from the World Cup break. Meanwhile, timing was everything for Wolves – even if it was “only by accident”. Former Spain and Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui was in the stands to watch their 2-0 defeat by Arsenal immediately before the break – and his taking over as boss the following day proved decisive. Wolves’ points-per-game average rocketed from 0.67 to 1.35 for the remainder of the season – the biggest improvement of any side post-World Cup.
The World Cup had a huge effect on the Premier League season, with some clubs experiencing more of an impact than others. Arsenal suffered a significant drop off in results, while Erling Haaland and Marcus Rashford both benefited from their mid-season break. Leicester City were unable to recover from James Maddison’s injury while Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira was sacked due to their poor form post-World Cup. On the other hand, Wolves’ timing was perfect as they appointed Julen Lopetegui just before the break and experienced a huge improvement in their form afterwards.