“Speed is always important,” Thierry Henry, one of the fastest players to ever grace the Premier League, once mused.
In the increasingly physical realm of the modern English top flight, a land of giants wrestling for each fraction of space at the unrelenting onslaught of set pieces, a quick turn of pace remains imperative. Only if it is used well.
“I, too, think football should be a fast game,” the Real Madrid icon Ferenc Puskás, who was renowned for a physique which did not naturally give way to swiftness, wrote, “but the ball should run faster than the man! Individual speed is a serviceable advantage. But to run madly and without purpose is of no value.”
Using data from Gradient Sports, via The Athletic, we can identify the Premier League’s top speedsters—specifically the players with the fastest maximum acceleration over the first three meters of a sprint. Deciphering which of these players makes the most of their natural gifts is another matter entirely.
11. Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest)
Ola Aina 🆚 Kyle Walker 😯 pic.twitter.com/EtT9AzxCxU
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 1, 2024
Max acceleration: 5.5 m/s²
During his first season for Nottingham Forest, Ola Aina came up against the Premier League’s most proudly self-styled pace merchant Kyle Walker. Presented with a clear patch of grass ahead of him a mischievous thought flew through his head: “I may as well try it.”
The gamble paid off. Aina burned past the then-Manchester City fullback to the delight of his friends, who left his phone “frantic” with a flurry of congratulatory messages.
“Afterwards,” Aina recalled to The Guardian, “he said something like: ‘You’re pretty quick’ and ‘You caught me flat-footed.’ But he was very chilled about it. He’s done the same thing to other players so many times.” Walker was not his last casualty.
10. Alex Scott (Bournemouth)
Max acceleration: 5.6 m/s²
Arguably the most deceptive entrant on this list. The bandy-legged central midfielder isn’t an obvious blur on the pitch, gliding across the turf rather than leaving scorch marks on it.
However, Alex Scott’s rapid burst of pace is borne out in the numbers, and has undoubtedly aided the best season of his career. A fixture in the midfield of Andoni Iraola’s full-throttle pressing unit, the Guernsey native needs to be light on his feet to not only apply that pressure but also to escape the clutches of opponents unhappy at seeing the ball so regularly robbed from them.
9. Noah Okafor (Leeds)
Max acceleration: 5.6 m/s²
“He’s a player of high potential,” Daniel Farke said of Noah Okafor upon his summer arrival at Leeds United, “he more or less has all the skills.” The chief skill among his set is undoubtedly his speed—finishing, dribbling and creating isn’t quite so obvious.
8. Jérémy Doku (Man City)
Max acceleration: 5.6 m/s²
Pep Guardiola has no doubts over Jérémy Doku’s acceleration. “Jérémy is the best player in the world in the first five meters,” Manchester City’s manager gushed last season. This term he isn’t quite top of the speed charts, but that may be by choice.
In years gone by, Doku has been too quick for his own good. Not many teammates can keep up with the jet-heeled Belgian to get in a position to receive his cutbacks and crosses. This year he has made a deliberate effort to slow down. It’s worked.
“When I arrived I was younger and had a lot of energy and always wanted to go forward,” Doku maturely reflected earlier this season, “but what I’ve learned is that sometimes you need to know the moments in the game to be more mature and calm down.” Before the end of January, Doku had already amassed a career-best nine assists across all competitions.
7. Pedro Neto (Chelsea)
Max acceleration: 5.6 m/s²
Pedro Neto was always destined to be an elite athlete.
The son of a professional roller hockey player whose mother played volleyball has a set of twin sisters who won national titles for trampolining. Just for good measure his uncle was also a professional soccer player. He wasn’t, however, quite as quick as his nephew.
6. Diego Gómez (Brighton)
Max acceleration: 5.7 m/s²
During his first full Premier League season, Diego Gómez has shown off his abundant versatility. The natural midfielder makes the Swiss army knife look like a spork, lining up in seven different positions for Fabian Hürzeler.
An eye-catching swiftness has undoubtedly aided this adaptation to so many different parts of the pitch.
5. Benjamin Sesko (Man Utd)
Max acceleration: 5.8 m/s²
Benjamin Šeško could have been built in a lab. Standing at a towering 6’5″, blessed with a thunderous shot off both feet and blisteringly quick.
The furiously hard-working 22-year-old showed off his turn of pace to score against Everton in February during a fruitful run in the first team under Michael Carrick.
4. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham)
Max acceleration: 5.8 m/s²
Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s reputation precedes him. After years spent dueling with the long-legged right back on Crystal Palace’s training ground, Wilfried Zaha knew what he would be up against when facing his former teammate after he moved to Manchester United.
Zaha broke clear of the Red Devils backline during one meeting in 2023 but he could hear footsteps pounding behind him. “I had a little look back and I thought, ‘Oh my God … it’s Aaron.’”
Wan-Bissaka lived up to his reputation and dispossessed the fleet-footed forward who was left to rue his pace. “Any other player…” Zaha wryly reflected.
3. Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton)
Max acceleration: 5.9 m/s²
Kaoru Mitoma turned down a professional contract when he was 19 to attend university. The centerpiece of his degree in physical education was an infamous thesis in dribbling.
The studious winger strapped GoPros to the head of the players, investigated diet practices and quizzed associate professor Satoru Tanigawa, a 110m hurdler for Japan at the Sydney and Athens Olympics, to hone his running style.
Mitoma’s takeaway was that the best players don’t look at the ball and the ultimate task is to shift the opponent’s center of gravity. It turns out, being one of the quickest players in the Premier League also helps.
2. Anthony Gordon (Newcastle)
Max acceleration: 5.9 m/s²
Speed is Anthony Gordon’s route behind most rearguards and onto England’s World Cup roster. “He is a direct player,” Thomas Tuchel analyzed during the qualification process.
“I think this is his biggest strength, to go direct and go again and again. To have this repetition in his intensity. He just collects high intensity runs, he collects meters in sprints and this is so, so good.”
1. Álex Jiménez (Bournemouth)
Álex Jiménez: Liverpool (H)
The comp you all wanted to see 🔥⭐️ pic.twitter.com/q1PXpBgXFm
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 26, 2026
Max acceleration: 6 m/s²
Initially caught off guard by the intensity of the Premier League, the former AC Milan and Real Madrid wide man has acclimatized to the division’s tempo.
“In my game, I try to have pace, drive and speed,” Jiménez mused earlier this season. “It’s something I can take from one league to another and is important in my position. I only want to get better.”
He can’t get any better than top spot.
