After 29 Matchweeks of the Premier League season, Opta Analyst's Ali Tweedale takes a look at the players who have dominated the physical charts in 2024/25 so far.
It is a commonly held view among watchers of Premier League football that running a lot is inherently positive.
Every time a team wins while having outran the opposition it further cements the idea that effort is directly proportional to success.
And many fans also love the players who can run quickest, too. Run fast, run a lot, win.
But what about the players who don’t run very much? What about those who run slowest? What about the marathon men who are always on the move but never reach high speeds?
Here, we look at the Premier League players who stand out in a number of different running categories.
From the players who run the furthest to those who have the highest and lowest top speeds; from the players who spend the most time walking to those who spend the most time sprinting, we take a deep dive into Opta’s well of tracking data.
Who walks the most?
Goalkeepers are always going to spend most of their time on the pitch doing very little, but it still may nonetheless come as a surprise to find out just how little action they face.
Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels has spent 95.5 per cent of his game time in 2024/25 walking, the highest proportion of all players in the Premier League (200+ minutes played).
The top 35 players are all goalkeepers, but when it comes to outfield players, some interesting names pop up.
Lionel Messi would always walk around the pitch, allowing everyone else to run around while conserving his energy for the moments that matter, and it seems Wolverhampton Wanderers’ star player, Matheus Cunha, does something similar.
Cunha has spent 77.6 per cent of his game time this season walking – more than any other Premier League player.
He comes to life when he needs to, having already scored 13 goals and provided four assists in the Premier League this season.
PL outfield players with most time spent walking 24/25
| Player | % Playing time spent walking |
| Matheus Cunha (WOL) | 77.6% |
|---|---|
| Virgil van Dijk (LIV) | 76.5% |
| Cristian Romero (TOT) | 75.5% |
| Adama Traore (FUL) | 75.1% |
| Ezri Konsa (AVL) | 74.2% |
Adama Traore is the only other non-defender in the top five, alternating between walking pace and lightning-quick sprinting for Fulham.
Virgil van Dijk, Cristian Romero and Ezri Konsa make up the top five, while Noni Madueke, Raul Jimenez and Callum Hudson-Odoi rank the next-highest among non-defender outfield players.
Meanwhile, West Ham United midfielder Tomas Soucek spends less time walking (54.2 per cent) than any other player in the Premier League.
As for distance covered while walking, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya leads the way, having walked 114.9 km this season, just ahead of Van Dijk, who has covered 112.1 km while walking in his 29 Premier League appearances this season. Must be those long legs of his.
Who sprints the most?
Who doesn’t love a player who runs a lot, and even better, one who runs a lot at thrilling high speed?
A sprint is defined as a player running over 25 km/h because there needs to be an objective measure of what constitutes a sprint.
In other words, this is a category that favours players who can get up to speeds over 25 km/h with any regularity.
There may be some slower players who feel like they are sprinting a lot, but they aren’t reaching fast enough speeds to qualify as sprinting.
Antonee Robinson has embarked on more sprints (702) than any other player in the Premier League this season, ahead of Anthony Gordon (666), Daniel Munoz (658), Bryan Mbeumo (647) and Milos Kerkez (639).
PL players with the longest time spent sprinting 24/25
| Player | Time spent sprinting |
| Anthony Elanga (NFO) | 1.17% |
|---|---|
| Anthony Gordon (NEW) | 1.10% |
| Darwin Nunez (LIV) | 1.07% |
| Daniel Munoz (CRY) | 1.05% |
| Antonee Robinson (FUL) | 1.04% |
But when looking at the amount of time on the pitch that players have been sprinting, Forest winger Anthony Elanga comes out on top.
He has spent a Premier League high of 1.17 per cent of his game time sprinting, just ahead of Gordon (1.10 per cent) and Darwin Nunez (1.07 per cent). Munoz (1.05 per cent) and Robinson (1.04 per cent) make up the top five, meaning three of the top five players for proportion of the time they spend sprinting have a first name which is a version of "Anthony".
Who are the quickest players?
Looking at the top speed reached by each player, Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven leads the way as the only player in the Premier League this season to go above 37 km/h.
Matheus Nunes (36.7 km/h), Mbeumo (36.6 km/h), Yankuba Minteh (36.4 km/h) and Elanga (36.2 km/h) are the other of the Premier League’s fastest players.
PL fastest players 24/25
| Player | Top speed (km/h) |
| Micky van de Ven (TOT) | 37.1 |
|---|---|
| Matheus Nunes (MCI) | 36.7 |
| Bryan Mbeumo (BRE) | 36.6 |
| Yankuba Minteh (BHA) | 36.4 |
| Anthony Elanga (NFO) | 36.2 |
The fastest goalkeeper in the Premier League is Raya, with a top speed of 32.7 km/h, reached during an impressive piece of recovery work in the recent game against West Ham.
Watch Raya's impressive recovery speed
Who are the slowest players?
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno has the lowest top speed of every player in the Premier League this season, hitting at most 23.6 km/h. That means, according to our definition of what makes a sprint (25 km/h), he has not sprinted even once despite playing every single minute in 2024/25.
Removing goalkeepers, who make up most of the slowest players in the league, we are left with an interesting list.
A six-time Premier League winner with Manchester City, Bernardo Silva has the lowest top speed in the Premier League in 2024/25, with 29.4 km/h the fastest he has moved all season.
PL slowest players 24/25*
| Player | Top speed (km/h) |
| Bernardo Silva (MCI) | 29.4 |
|---|---|
| Craig Dawson (WOL) | 29.6 |
| Mikel Merino (ARS) | 29.8 |
| Casemiro (MUN) | 30.2 |
| Tomas Soucek (WHU) | 30.2 |
*Excluding goalkeepers
Craig Dawson, Mikel Merino, Casemiro and Soucek make up the bottom five.
As we’ll soon see, though, speed isn’t everything. Slow and steady can also win the race.
Who jogs the furthest?
Soucek has jogged – defined as between 6-15 km/h – further than any other player in the Premier League this season, covering 140.1 km.
He rarely hits high speed, but he is on the move more than anyone else, spending a Premier League high of 47.8 per cent of his game time jogging. As already mentioned, he walks less than everyone else in the whole league.
Fellow central midfielders Bruno Guimaraes, Youri Tielemans, Bruno Fernandes and Moises Caicedo make up the top five for distance covered while jogging.
PL players most distance covered while jogging 24/25
| Player | Furthest jogged (km) |
| Tomas Soucek (WHU) | 140.8 |
|---|---|
| Bruno Guimaraes (NEW) | 139.9 |
| Youri Tielemans (AVL) | 139.3 |
| Bruno Fernandes (MUN) | 131.5 |
| Moises Caicedo (CHE) | 130.5 |
When it comes to the proportion of time players spend jogging, Soucek is still top having spent 34.7 per cent of his game time jogging at a speed between 6-15 km/h, but he is joined in the top five by three Man City midfielders, in Ilkay Gundogan (33.3 per cent), Mateo Kovacic (32.6 per cent) and Phil Foden (32.1 per cent), as well as AFC Bournemouth’s Ryan Christie (32.7 per cent).
These are the players constantly on the move, always looking for space to receive a pass.
Who covers the most ground?
Newcastle midfielder Guimaraes has covered more ground than anyone else in the Premier League this season, but with the top of this list largely made up of players who play every single game, it is more interesting to adjust for minutes played.
Of players to play at least 600 minutes of football this season, Brentford’s Yehor Yarmoliuk runs the furthest in each game, covering 12.9 km per 90.
However, of regular starters – those with more than 1,500 minutes to their name – Spurs' Dejan Kulusevski is the Premier League’s marathon man, covering 12.3 km per 90.
Soucek and Bernardo Silva are also up there, along with Sandro Tonali and Southampton’s Flynn Downes.
PL players furthest run per 90 minutes 24/25*
| Player | Furthest run (km) |
| Dejan Kulusevski (TOT) | 12.3 |
|---|---|
| Tomas Soucek (WHU) | 12.2 |
| Sandro Tonali (NEW) | 12.2 |
| Bernardo Silva (MCI) | 11.9 |
| Flynn Downes (SOU) | 11.6 |
*1,500 minutes played
Who covers the least ground?
Of outfield players to play at least 1,500 minutes this season, Forest centre-back Murillo boasts the lowest distance run per 90 minutes played, with an average of 8.5 km.
He is joined at the top of the list by Forest team-mate and centre-back partner Nikola Milenkovic and Liverpool’s first-choice centre-backs Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
The only non-centre-back in the top five is still a Forest player, though, in winger Hudson-Odoi, who runs just 8.9 km per 90.
PL players least run per 90 minutes 24/25*
| Player | Least run (km) |
| Murillo (NFO) | 8.5 |
|---|---|
| Virgil van Dijk (LIV) | 8.8 |
| Nikola Milenkovic (NFO) | 8.9 |
| Callum Hudson-Odoi (NFO) | 8.9 |
| Ibrahima Konate (LIV) | 9.0 |
*1,500 minutes played
Forest clearly don’t run much under Nuno Espirito Santo, but the league table shows just effective they are.
Maybe running a lot isn’t necessary, after all.
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