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Football is made of beautiful goals, breathtaking skills, last grasp defending and high flying saves. But an essential, and often discussed aspect of the game is speed. Each and every tactics deployed in the modern game of Football has an element of speed it in, be it lightning fast counter attacks or tiki-taka.
The game has always loved speed, there is nothing more exciting than the sight of striker breaking away with pace, leaving the defence behind and racing towards the goal. Unless of course, you are the defending team, in which case, a speeding defender who races back, matches speed for speed with the attacker and wins the ball is a great asset.
Football loves speed, but not everyone is blessed with it. These are a rare breed of players, the speedsters, who can almost race away with your heart. When they run, they give the engrossed viewers the feeling that they are running themselves.
They are the wind to the sails of the fans, who cheer them on as they race through the turf, almost tearing it away and burning up their tanks. In the stands and through out the world, these speedsters make the spectators stand up in anticipation, in excitement, as most of the time, their pace helps determine the outcome of the game.
The top flight club competition in England has always been blessed with players with quick feet. There have been dashing wingers, lightning quick strikers and turbo wing-backs. There have also been fast footed central defenders and midfielders.
Last season, the Premier League saw a lot of meteoric pace, from Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane to Manchester United’s Anthony Martial and Marcush Rashford. From Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin to Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, from Manchester City’s Leroy Sane to Crystal Palace’s Wilfred Zaha, all lit up the season with their pace.
However, after the first month of the new season, none of them feature among the five fastest players in the league.
The Mirror, along with Opta, tracked the statistics of the footballers after the opening month of play and narrowed down the list of the fastest footballers in the league. Today, we take a look at the five fastest Footballers so far in 2018-19 season.
#5 Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang (34.753 Km/h)
When City came to visit Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 12 August, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang started as the focal point in attack, with Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan behind him.
Pep Guardiola's side won the game 2-0, while Aubameyang missed a couple of chances. However, during the game, the Gabon international showed his raw pace on quite a few occasions and as per Opta, he clocked up a speed of 34.753 km/h, which makes him the fifth fastest player this campaign.
#4 Ryan Fredericks (34.767 Km/h)
Ryan Marlowe Fredericks started as the right back for West Ham United against Arsenal at the Emirates on 25 August. The Hammers signed ex-Tottenham academy graduate on a free transfer over the summer, after his contract with Fulham expired at the end of last season.
The defender had been one of the Cottagers star players in the Championship, however, he has looked a little shaky, to say the least, for Manuel Pellegrini's side so far.
While it is quite likely that Fredericks will require time to adjust to his new life at the top flight, against Unai Emery's side, he showed a facet of his game – speed. Fredericks, according to Opta, reached a blinding top speed of 34.767 km/h, which is pretty impressive at this level and that ranks him as the fourth fastest Premier League player so far.
#3 Aaron Lennon (34.826 Km/h)
Southampton and Burnley played out an entertaining goalless draw on 12 August, in a game that saw a total of 34 shots. Aaron Lennon, starting on the right, should have scored in the first half, when a Southampton mistake saw him get to the end of a lose ball, but he was denied by Alex McCarthy in goal.
Lennon did display his fascinating speed in the game, even though he missed out on the goal. According to Opta, Lennon was recorded running at a scorching speed of 34.826 km/h, and he is currently the third fastest Premier League Footballer this season.
#2 Kyle Walker (34.845 Km/h)
The game between Arsenal and City saw another speedster on the field. Walker had already established himself as a fine right back at Tottenham, but since moving to the Etihad last summer, the Englishman has gotten even better.
Under Guardiola, the right-back has improved his all round game, but he has still managed to keep his paace. Even though Mendy ran the show from the other side against the Gunners, Walker managed to reach a breakneck 34.845 km/h on the run according to Opta.
However, even with such outstanding pace, there is still someone faster than him this season, which makes him the second faster Premier League Footballer so far.
#1 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (34.935 Km/h)
Surprise, surprise! The fastest man in the Premier League is Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the young, dynamic forward who plays for Everton. Calvert-Lewin is in his third season for the Merseyside club and started on the bench in the game versus Southampton.
The Toffees started the game well, going into the break with a 2-0 lead. However, the Saints got a goal back early in the second half and things got a little tricky. In the 74th minute of the game, Everton manager Marco Silva opted to bring on Calvert-Lewin in place of striker Tosun, in order to stretch the game.
While the 21-year-old failed to affect the game, he did clock the fast speed on the football pitch this season in the Premier League. According to Opta, Calvert-Lewin reached a blistering top speed of 34.935 km/h, making him the fastest footballer in the Premier League so far.
Read the top 20 list released by Mirror here.
