William Osula’s 90th-minute burst against Manchester United thrust him into the Premier League’s top 10 fastest players this season.
Osula was rapid on the way to scoring the winner against the Red Devils – but not as fast as Anthony Gordon at Manchester City last week.
Gordon’s fastest sprint of the season sees him take over at the top of this list of the Premier League’s fastest players, according to our friends at Gradient Sports.
To gauge the quickest player, Gradient records the average of each player’s top five observed maximum one-second speeds (km/h).
Here are the top 10 in the Premier League…
10) Benjamin Sesko (Manchester United) – 34.63
Sesko recorded his fastest speed (35.87km/h) of the season at Everton, presumably while leaving James Tarkowski for dead to get on the end of Bryan Mbeumo’s pass for United’s winner.’
9) Alex Jimenez (Bournemouth) – 34.65km/h
Jimenez seems determined to be one of the next cabs to speed off the Bournemouth rank amid a mission to prove AC Milan wrong. And Max Allegri, who isn’t a ‘sh*tty coach’, after all.
8) William Osula (Newcastle United) – 34.55
Osula clocked his fastest speed of the season (35.23km/h) while sprinting down the right to get himself into position to score one of the goals of the season against Manchester United. Tyrell Malacia is still chocking on the chalk off the touchline.
7) Kyle Walker (Burnley) – 34.76
Walker is slowing down, apparently, but he still touched 36.84km/h in Burnley’s home game against Crystal Palace in December. Not bad for a 35-year-old.
6) Erling Haaland (Manchester City) – 35.20km/h
Another reason why Erling Braut Haaland is a ridiculous footballer.
5) Anthony Elanga (Newcastle United) – 35.27km/h
Newcastle were buzzing at the prospect of Elanga’s lightning speed on the break when they spent a fortune to sign him from Forest, but perhaps they were too dazzled to notice that the 23-year-old struggles to know what to do when he gets there (quickly).
4) Kevin Schade (Brentford) – 35.37km/h
The Brentford winger is now among the top 10 highest-scoring Germans in the Premier League having bumped Michal Ballack from the list. Tottenham were said to be interested last month, which he can count as a lucky escape.
3) Pedro Neto (Chelsea) – 35.39km/h
Many Chelsea fans might disagree but Liam Rosenior reckons Neto is ‘world class’, the 25-year-old’s pace key to him being used this season as a striker, left winger, wing-back, number 10 and, where he is most comfortable, on the right wing. And despite being shunted around the team, he remains the Blues’ most consistent winger.
2) Jackson Tchatchoua (Wolves) – 35.78km/h
The fastest player in Serie A, having averaged 34.88km/h last season was the fastest in the Premier League until he was overtaken by the new no.1. And the 24-year-old be running very fast around the Championship next season unless the reported interest from Italy resurfaces.
Tchatchoua maxed out at 37.1km/h for Hellas Verona last term but reached 37.7km/h when Wolves faced Everton on matchday two.
1) Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United) – 36.10km/h
“That was one of the things I wanted to add to this team – incredible pace. Because I see many of the top teams have one, two, three individuals that have pace that is exceptional.” Music to Gordon’s ears, one suspects, from Arne Slot in December, because the feeling persists that the 24-year-old would run very fast back to Merseyside if Liverpool come calling this summer.
Gordon clocked 38.2km/h during the defeat at Manchester City to speed to the top of this list.