ArticleBiology of sport2025
Analysis of mental and physical fatigue over the course of a professional English Premier League season in outfield players.
Article in Biology of sport, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Assessing mental fatigue in football: a systematic review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Micro-recovery dosing in elite sport: an initiative-taking, organization-wide recovery framework.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A variety of studies suggest mental fatigue (MF) negatively influences both perceptions of physical fatigue and psychomotor performance. No prior investigation has examined potential changes in player ratings of MF over the course of an English Premier League (EPL) season. This study analysed how MF and PF varied among elite footballers, at both grouped and individual levels, across a 46 match EPL season. Prospective cohort study. Over the course of a 40-week, 151 training sessions and 46 games season, 21 first team male EPL footballers rated both physical fatigue (PF) and MF on a 100-mm visual analogue scale on match day minus-one (M-1). No significant group differences were established for MF (18.9 ± 13.0 vs. 17.8 ± 14.8 vs. 20.8 ± 20.5) and PF (21.4 ± 14.0 vs. 20.9 ± 14.7 vs. 19.9 ± 17.5) (P > 0.05) between early, mid and late season timepoints. However, pervasive individual differences were evident across timescales. Unlike earlier comparable work in netball, this study did not detect group-based changes in MF or PF over a competitive season. However, extensive changes in individual ratings of MF and PF did occur. This study highlights the potential importance of monitoring and managing MF trends within squads of elite footballers. The 100-mm visual analogue scale provides practitioners with a pragmatic tool capable of, in a resource-efficient manner, monitoring MF in EPL squads. Monitoring MF potentially facilitates the customised provision of targeted remediation strategies encompassing (a) training design, (b) individualized recovery and (c) player education relating to MF alleviation and stress management interventions.
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Registered trials
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