Michael Flynn said that he believes that the new rules around increasing the amount of stoppage time are causing more injuries to players.

BBC Sport reported that Premier League injuries are at an all-time high after three months of the season, with 196 injuries having been reported, 15% higher than the past four campaigns.

These injuries have been particularly stark when it comes to hamstrings in the topflight as there has been an increase of 96% compared to last season when it comes to players being sidelined because of that kind of injury.

Leading into the frantic festive period as Town play four games in eight days, data analyst Ben Dinnery told BBC Sport that the problems could get even worse.

“The injuries have been unprecedented. I also expect the festive period to be significantly higher as last season had its own build-up," He said.

"In terms of recovery and those optimum levels, recovery needed we'd say is 72 hours. Anything before that you see it as a bit of a worry."

Swindon Town have had their own fair share of injuries this term, with seven players having been out through injury for their last game away against Accrington Stanley, which with a small squad to begin with, has meant that multiple youth players have had to be called upon to fill out the bench.

Opta reported that the ball has been in play for seven minutes and 28 seconds more per game in League Two this season with the introduction of the new rules surrounding time wasting.

Flynn was sceptical of what the impact of the new rules would be coming into the season and said that although it was still early days, he felt like you went into games expecting injuries.

He said: “There seems to be a lot more injuries this season. I don’t know if that is because it is getting publicised more, but for me, it seems like there are injuries in every game.

“You have seen in the Tottenham game yesterday when the player had to go off just after coming back.

“These are players who have had the best rehab possible, they won’t get thrown in until they think they are 100 per cent ready. He has come back and he has broken down again.

“It is not just at our level, it is at the top, top levels. The rates of injuries have gone up and especially hamstrings.”