Now you might well wonder what the heck this article is about given the title, but as the Swans are facing the Cherries this weekend, we thought it would be interesting to share some little known Premier League facts.
Did you know that on average, Bournemouth clock up the most kilometres on the pitch per game in the Premier League?
Yes it’s true and here is a league table for the average distance covered (in km) per 90 minutes up until the end of October.
1. Bournemouth – 118.28 km
2. Tottenham Hotspur – 115.63 km
3. West Bromwich Albion – 113.44 km
4. Manchester United – 113.4 km
5. West Ham United – 112.83 km
6. Newcastle United – 111.58 km
7. Watford – 111.18 km
8. Leicester City – 110.43 km
9. Southampton – 109.86 km
10. Crystal Palace – 109.49 km
11. Manchester City – 109.3 km
12. Liverpool – 108.76 km
13. Chelsea – 108.5 km
14. Arsenal – 108.03 km
15. Sunderland – 107.93 km
16. Swansea City – 107.74 km
17. Stoke City – 107.11 km
18. Norwich City – 106.62 km
19. Everton – 105.77 km
20. Aston Villa – 104.78 km
If you compare these figures to the average distance covered by Premier League sides last season (for the season as a whole), you’ll notice that Bournemouth still covered more ground than any other side last season!
2014-2015 Premier League Season Averages
1. Burnley – 116.1 km
2. Newcastle United – 113.8 km
3. Manchester City – 112.4 km
4. Tottenham Hotspur – 112.3 km
5. Southampton – 111.3 km
6. Everton – 111 km
7. West Bromwich Albion – 111 km
8. Manceshter United – 110.9 km
9. Crystal Palace – 110.7 km
10. Leicester – 110.7 km
11. Stoke City – 110.5 km
12. Chelsea – 110.3 km
13. Liverpool – 110 km
14. Sunderland – 110 km
15. Arsenal – 109.7 km
16. Hull – 109.6 km
17. Aston Villa – 108.8 km
18. Swansea City – 108.5 km
19. West ham United – 106.3 km
20. Queens Park Rangers – 106.0 km
Of course if you look at the distances for each side over the two seasons, you do notice that there doesn’t necessarily appear to be a direct link between how much ground you cover and your league position – it might merely indicate that a team runs around a lot without much end product!
The irony of the Swans covering (on average) approximately just 1km less of ground this season than last season doesn’t escape me either, given the recent complaints about the “lack of movement” by the players, especially in attacking situations. This suggests – statistically at least – that the problems faced by Garry Monk’s men lay elsewhere.
Whatever happens this weekend, the Swans will face a energetic Bournemouth side, whom have covered 5 of the top 10 distances covered by any Premier League side this year, including the most distance in one game – 126.9km against Sunderland!
Keep an eye out for Bournemouth’s Dan Gosling too as he tops the players tree, having completed 13.77km in a single match, closely followed by team mate Matt Ritchie on 13.74km. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the datat, no Swansea player features in the Top 10.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League