Tireless City lead Premier League for distance covered | OneFootball

“Always, we have played football with the ball but we are a team that run incredibly. We have been an example otherwise we wouldn’t win.”

Those were the words of Pep Guardiola after Sunday’s emphatic Premier League victory over defending champions Liverpool.

While the Catalan coach demands beautiful, attacking football when we have possession, energy and determination off the ball have been the backbone of his astonishing haul of 18 major trophies in nine full seasons at the Etihad.

That’s a key pillar of our recent form too, with City covering more ground in the Premier League than any other team in the first 11 matches of 2025/26.

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We’ve run a total of 1,269 kilometres so far, averaging a jaw-dropping 115.4 kilometres per game.

Our total is seven kilometres more than the second most energetic side, Arsenal, with Leeds, Newcastle and Burnley completing the top five.

As for individual distance covered per 90 minutes, three of the top four players in the Premier League who have played at least 500 minutes are ours.

Phil Foden, who has enjoyed a sparkling return to form and fitness in 2025/26, averages 12.42 kilometres every 90 minutes.

Club captain Bernardo Silva is often near the top of this metric and even in his ninth season in England, he continues to cover more ground than almost all of his peers.

He’s balanced out at 12.11 kilometres, putting him third in the Premier League.

Nico is fourth amongst every player across the whole division, clocking up 12.08 kilometres per game.

That trio were essential to our spectacular performance against Liverpool last weekend, providing a solid foundation thanks to their selfless work in the centre of the park.

It’s fitting that Bernardo, who has been selected by Guardiola more than any other player, led the way in the boss’ 1,000th game as a manager.

He clocked up 12.76 kilometres, just ahead of Foden on 12.73 and Nico on 11.99.

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Bernardo and Foden’s totals against Liverpool are the third and fourth most a player has run in any Premier League game this season, with Foden’s tireless display against Everton last month topping the bill at 12.85 kilometres in total.

Given those staggering numbers, it’s understandable that they haven’t featured in every game.

That has left Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland as the only two City players who have so far gone beyond 100 kilometres in total this season, registering 109.6 and 105.4 respectively.

As Dias and Haaland play in positions less associated with relentless amounts of running, it shows the boss' message has filtered through to every member of his squad.

So, while we’ve all enjoyed seeing City score a league-high 23 goals thus far, Guardiola made it clear to fans and assembled media on Sunday that it wouldn't be possible without a tremendous amount of running.