Micky van de Ven showed what made him the Premier League’s fastest player during Tottenham’s 3-0 victory over Manchester United.
The defender raced nearly the length of the pitch to set up Brennan Johnson‘s opener, and his heroics at Old Trafford saw him record the fastest speed of any Premier League player this season.
And while the Dutchman’s stunning assist was arguably the game’s standout moment, it wasn’t actually where he hit top speed.
On the brink of half time, Van de Ven raced back to tackle United’s Alejandro Garnacho, reaching a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.
Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this season, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected in the 2020/21 season.
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Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.
The 23-year-old’s season’s best against the Red Devils sees him place comfortably ahead of his fellow speed merchants.
Nottingham Forest‘s Anthony Elanga ranks second in the leaderboard, with his personal record of 35.90 km/h, over one km/h slower than van de Ven’s.
While Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland leads the Premier League goalscoring charts by some distance with ten goals in his first six games, he ranks third in the sprinting category.
Haaland’s top speed of 35.74 km/h places him narrowly ahead of Spurs‘ Timo Werner (35.69 km/h), who comes in fourth place.
With Arsenal bidding to lift a first league title in over 20 years, they will surely need some pace in their squad to see off opponents.
And winger Gabriel Martinelli could be the man to provide this, who ranks fifth among the English top-flight’s most rapid players at 35.57 km/h.
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Man United stars Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford also feature in the top ten in this category, with the speedy Argentine sixth (35.48 km/h), and his fellow attacker tenth (35.53 km/h).
Meanwhile, Southampton may look to make greater use of striker Cameron Archer’s sharpness if they are to turn their disappointing start to the season around.
Saints have endured a difficult return to the Premier League, sitting a lowly 19th in the table and without a win in their opening six games.
This comes in spite of Archer’s running statistics, who has recorded the seventh top speed of any player at 35.47 km/h.
Elsewhere among the early season speed demons, Pedro Neto has continued to showcase his frightening pace at new club Chelsea following his summer arrival from Wolves.
The Portuguese winger’s impressive 35.40 km/h places him eighth fastest for the campaign.
But this is still over one km/h shy of the 36.86 km/h he hit against Luton last season, which is the seventh fastest top speed on record in the Premier League.
Brighton‘s £30million signing Yankuba Minteh’s 35.58 km/h completes the top ten, with the swift Gambian winger sure to net his first goal for the club sooner rather than later with such pace to burn.
Top 10 fastest Premier League players this season (km/h)
- Micky van de Ven – Tottenham – 37.12
- Anthony Elanga – Nottingham Forest – 35.90
- Erling Haaland – Man City – 35.74
- Timo Werner – Tottenham – 35.69
- Gabriel Martinelli – Arsenal – 35.57
- Alejandro Garnacho – Man United – 35.48
- Cameron Archer – Southampton – 35.47
- Pedro Neto – Chelsea – 35.40
- Yankuba Minteh – Brighton – 35.38
- Marcus Rashford – Man United – 35.53
