Sports data company revealed the Premier League’s most hard-working players with the help of numbers.
The Premier League had made a name for its intensity, physical nature and the tireless running of the players. And now, to quantify the players’ work ethics, Sports data company, Opta, has churned out the data and prepared a list of players in accordance to the distance covered by them.
The list, not surprisingly, is dominated by midfielders as usually they are the link between attack to defense, shuttling from the opponent’s penalty box to their own back and forth.
And as such, there aren’t really any shock inclusions in the list. Spurs’ young star Delli Alli is placed at the 20th spot, having covered just a shade over 95 kms over the course of this season while former Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen is named above Alli at the 19th place.
Another Spurs’ midfielder in new signing Victor Wanyama features at the 12th place, having covered a distance of 98.21 kms. Everton’s Gareth Barry is proving he’s still got it, running a distance of 99.21 kms which places him at the 10th spot – mighty impressive for a 35 year old.
Full-back is a position which has seen a drastic change in terms of role over the past few years, with managers now preferring their full-backs to push high and join the attacks more often. This has meant full-backs cover a lot more distance as they now participate in both ends of the pitch.
Taking that into consideration, one should not be surprised to see two full-backs in Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and West Brom’s Craig Dawson feature in the top 10 list for most distance covered.
Bellerin takes up the 9th spot while Dawson makes it into the top 5.
Midfielders like Fernandinho, Matic, Kante and Henderson are all well-known for their engines and stamina to cover every blade of grass on the pitch. These midfielders’ tireless running is the reason why the more attacking players can play with freedom knowing they have the able support of the midfielders right behind them.
All four of the above mentioned midfielders make into the top 6, with Liverpool’s number 14 taking the top spot.
Some of the prominent names to feature in the most distance covered list in this edition’s Premier League are stated below with their corresponding numbers and ranks –
20. Dele Alli – 95.06km
12. Victor Wanyama – 98.21km
10. Gareth Barry – 99.21km
9. Hector Bellerin – 99.46km
6. Fernandinho – 100.48km
3. Nemanja Matic – 104.06km
2. N’Golo Kante – 104.95km
1. Jordan Henderson – 106.49km
