Does running more in a game actually make a difference?

Much has been made about running data this past week.

The surprising stat that Chelsea had been outrun in every Premier League game this season shocked many.

After Everton clocked up 6km more than Chelsea in their 3-0 win against Liam Rosenior's men, the easy explanation was that being outrun was the obvious problem and an underlying reason for Chelsea's underperformance this season.

But how fair is this conclusion?

There have been 309 Premier League games played so far in the 2025-26 campaign.

In 48% of them, the team that has covered the most distance has won the match. Interestingly, this means the team that ran more has dropped points in more games than they've won.

However, in just a quarter of the games (78/309), victory has gone to the team that covered the least distance – with the remaining 84 games ending in draws.

Despite criticism around their commitment on Saturday, Chelsea's results this season appear to be considerably better than fellow Premier League sides who have taken a similarly less active approach.

The Blues have won 42% of their matches despite being outrun in every game, a 17% increase on the league's average.

The above data gently suggests that teams that run more than their opponents are more likely to win - but the data is messy and any patterns have to be considered in context.

Chelsea are bottom of the distance-run rankings while two other clubs that are in the top six of the Premier League – Liverpool and Aston Villa – are also in the bottom five of the running charts.

Leeds, who are second for distance covered, are in a relegation battle in 15th while Liverpool were ranked 16th for distance covered last season yet won the title.

Running data can be useful in painting a clearer picture of how a match has panned out but in isolation it is unlikely to reliably predict how often a team wins.

What it does more reliably help explain is a team's playing style.

Importantly, when a team's style of play matches the skillset of their players, teams are more likely to win, irrespective of distance ran alone.

A good example of this is that the day after Chelsea lost to Everton, Nottingham Forest beat Spurs 3-0 despite running almost 5km less.

Forest impressed last season, missing out on Champions League football by one point, playing in a counter-attacking fashion that suited the strengths of their players.

Reverting to that approach against Spurs allowed them to pick moments in which they exerted energy, attacking the box decisively when spaces opened up – as a more naturally counter-attacking side.

This suited the strengths of players like Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi, who both scored.

Aston Villa have the best win percentage of teams when being outrun in the Premier League this season with 52%.

Unai Emery, in a similar fashion, has opted for tactics that focus less on running and more on maximising his players.

Known for his compact defensive blocks and fast attacks, Emery has got the likes of Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins - strong counter-attackers - running into big spaces against disorganised defences after periods of defending their own box.

In May of last year, former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said: "We are not good enough for transition games. If you see our worst moments of the season, or games we struggled, they were all games where the game became transition."

This quote helps explain why Chelsea may have run less on purpose, particularly in the first part of the season. Instructing his team to play slower while dominating possession would have created fewer turnovers and transitions leading to Chelsea needing to run big distances less often.

Playing more slowly on the ball in theory may have helped Chelsea's players rest during the game before then pressing more intensely for shorter periods.

This season, Manchester City are top in terms of the average distance run per Premier League game.

Although this appears to be a positive stat, after their 3-0 win against West Ham earlier this season, Guardiola said: "I love [how much we run], last season we didn't have that. But it's not enough, we have to play better [so] we could run less."

Reading between the lines, Guardiola appeared pleased at the increase in commitment but probably wanted his side to play in a less end-to-end fashion, instead looking for more control.

Coaches will always want their teams to apply maximum effort but depending on the tactics they employ, effort may present as moments of intensity rather than sheer distance ran.

Jurgen Klopp was famed for an intense high-pressing style of play and when he was in charge of Borussia Dortmund said: "It's not the most important stat but I love it when I read that we ran more than the opponent. You can get respect if you do this and you have more chance to be successful."

As shown, football is more than just data but on a non-scientific level, there remains something comforting about knowing that your team has literally put the hard yards in on the pitch.