Newcastle United won at Tottenham on Tuesday.
The match in North London saw Eddie Howe’s side take the lead through a Malick Thiaw strike just before half-time.
The only surprise was that it had taken so long for that goal to come, as United dominated.
Somehow Tottenham fluked an equaliser, the ball falling kindly after they won their first corner past the hour mark (the corner count ended up 12 v 2 in Newcastle’s favour).
Eddie Howe’s side though sweeping back down the other end of the pitch a few minutes later to score what proved to be the winner. A great team move seeing Anthony Gordon brilliantly set up Jacob Ramsey for the crucial strike.
However, a key underlying reason has emerged that helps explain this Newcastle United victory over Tottenham.
As the stats show below, the Newcastle United players collectively running more than 5km further than the Tottenham players. This stat merely backing up what we could all see with our own eyes.
The Newcastle United team working far harder, running far further, than the Tottenham team.
This was in contrast to Newcastle’s previous Premier League match, where Brentford became the first PL opposition side in 13 attempts to run further than United. It wasn’t by much, less than 1km collectively, but it summed up their desire.
As opposed to the Tottenham players, even though they were at home they looked anything but totally committed, no wonder the Spurs fans are getting so upset.
One thing you can pretty much never accuse the NUFC team of, is a shortage of running and effort from Newcastle United players.
These are the last twenty-two Newcastle United matches in the Premier League and the distances covered in total by each team (all stats via BBC Sport):
Newcastle United players 115.76km and Spurs players 110.70km
Newcastle United players 119.02km and Brentford players 119.79km
Newcastle United players 113.42km and Liverpool players 107.68km
Newcastle United players 118.85km and Aston Villa players 118.49km
Newcastle United players 113.66km and Wolves players 111.57km
Newcastle United players 123.99km and Leeds players 123.99km
Newcastle United players 112.70km and Palace players 111.78km
Newcastle United players 111.14km and Burnley players 109.81km
Newcastle United players 116.83km and Man U players 113.10km
Newcastle United players 116.91km and Chelsea players 108.91km
Newcastle United players 109.91km and Sunderland players 106.52km
Newcastle United players 114.04km and Burnley players 108.91km
Newcastle United players 112.30km and Spurs players 110.05km
Newcastle United players 116.39km and Everton players 111.74km
Newcastle United players 112.40km and Manchester City players 113.64km
Newcastle United players 111.01km and Brentford players 114.13km
Newcastle United players 116.85km and West Ham players 114.08km
Newcastle United players 114.50km and Fulham players 110.21km
Newcastle United players 115.16km and Brighton players 113.59km
Newcastle United players 109.45km and Forest players 106.43km
Newcastle United players 112.94km and Arsenal players 115.08km
Newcastle United players 113.23km and Bournemouth players 109.03km
As you can see, only four times in these last 22 Premier League matches, have the opposition platers collectively ran further than the Newcastle United players. One of those four was Brentford away, when United played most of the second half with ten men (Dan Burn red carded)