Premier League distance covered stats: The ‘hardest-working’ teams and players
Who are the hardest-working teams and players in the Premier League right now?
One of the best ways to measure effort is Opta’s distance covered metric. We got our hands on the complete data from last season and put together lists and insights for you to read through below.
1. Who was the hardest-working Premier League team in 2023/24?
You cannot say Burnley were relegated due to a lack of effort, with Vincent Kompany’s men covering a league-high 4,411km despite finishing 19th. It’s also no shock to see former Clarets boss Sean Dyche and his Everton side in second, although Everton had much more success with the ‘Burnley way’, finishing 15th and 14 points clear of trouble — that would have been 12th and 22 points clear without their eight-point deduction.
You’ll also notice Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in third, two above his mentor Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. The two Spaniards have dominated the Premier League title race over the last couple of years, with Arsenal finishing second to City two seasons running and both managers expecting maximum effort as the bare minimum.
The rest of the list looks like this:
- 11. Man United (4,226.3km)
- 12. Luton Town (4,218.9km)
- 13. Fulham (4,213.6km)
- 14. West Ham (4,204.2km)
- 15. Sheffield United (4,193.6km)
- 16. Wolves (4,178km)
- 17. Crystal Palace (4,143km)
- 18. Chelsea (4,128.8km)
- 19. Nottingham Forest (4,089.4km)
- 20. Aston Villa (4,069.3km)
2. Which Premier League players covered the most ground?
As if Bruno Guimaraes wasn’t already popular enough, Newcastle fans will love him even more (if he remains at the club beyond this transfer window) after seeing him top of the entire Premier League for distance covered. The Brazilian gives his all, but also has incredible technical ability and attacking prowess from midfield to go with his engine.
Arsenal are the only team with two players on the top 10, with midfield duo Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard clocking up 413 and 401.3km, respectively, while Man City fulcrum Rodri sneaks into the count at 388.5km.
Conor Gallagher comes in at fourth with 407.2km, making it even easier to see why Chelsea’s decision to push him out the door is proving hugely unpopular among supporters. The Blues may miss his effort and leadership more than they know.
3. Arsenal
Arsenal fell just short of winning their first Premier League title since their 2003/04 invincible season, but took the race down to the final day before eventually finishing only two points adrift of Man City.
As mentioned, Arteta’s men didn’t lose out on effort. In fact, the Gunners outran their opponents in 36 of their 38 Premier League games last season, which puts them three games clear of any other team in this particular metric. Burnley (33) and Everton (30) make up the top three, while the bottom three is made up of Wolves (four), Chelsea (six) and then Midlands duo Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest (eight each). Again, who knows how much Chelsea will miss Gallagher…
4. Angeball
Tottenham only came in at seventh for distance covered (4,290.6km) and didn’t have any individual players in the top 10 in this regard. However, they absolutely dominate when it comes to sprints.
The Lilywhites were top of the Premier League in this regard last season with 6,534 — almost 300 clear of their nearest rival, Bournemouth, who clocked 6,250. Son Heung-min was the Premier League’s top individual sprinter on 859, 15 clear of Anthony Gordon in second. And the fastest sprint measured in the Premier League came courtesy of dynamic Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, who posted a top speed of 37.38km/h.
Despite going down to 10 men in the 33rd minute and nine men in the 55th, only two teams beat Tottenham’s 216 sprints registered in their 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in November — and one of them was Tottenham themselves, sprinting 219 times in their 4-0 win over Aston Villa in March.
Tottenham were even involved in the game with the most sprints, with Bournemouth managing 228 in their 3-1 defeat to the Lilywhites on New Year’s Eve.
This is what ‘Angeball’ is all about.
5. The Glasner effect
Results alone are enough to demonstrate how much Oliver Glasner improved Crystal Palace, not to mention the remarkable upturn in goalscoring from Jean-Philippe Mateta. However, the running stats also back up the impact of the Austrian coach, with the Eagles going from 107.7km covered per game under Roy Hodgson to 111.4km under Glasner. In fact, in just 13 games in charge, Glasner was able to get Palace to within almost 1,000km of the distance they ran in 24 games under Hodgson.
Glasner helped drag Palace from 15th to 10th at the end of last season and after adding the likes of Ismaila Sarr and Daichi Kamada this summer, we should see their running stats fuel even more improvement.
