Last updated on .From the section Premier League

Arsenal (54) suffered more injuries than any other Premier League club last season

Premier League clubs paid out £217m in wages to injured players in the 2017-18 season, according to research by insurance broker JLT Specialty.

The cost increased by 21% from £176.6m in 2016-17, despite the total number of injuries falling from 735 to 663.

Arsenal suffered 54 separate injuries last season - the most in the Premier League.

Hamstring injuries were most common, while knee injuries had the highest average cost of £613,402 per injury.

Champions Manchester City suffered the second fewest number of injuries in the season - 24 along with Newcastle - while Brighton had the fewest injuries (15) of any top-flight club and also paid out the least in wages (£3.01m) to injured players.

JLT Specialty calculated that an injury costs a club an average of £323,000 in wages.

Duncan Fraser, head of sport at JLT, said: "It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the World Cup has on injury rates in the upcoming season.

"History has shown that teams could expect to see more injuries following an international tournament than during a fallow year.

"If this trend continues then teams can expect to see a rise in both the amount of injuries and the costs resulting."