‘Electric’ Newcastle player has made more sprints than anyone else in the Premier League this season

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Newcastle United work so hard off the ball, and not many do it better than Anthony Gordon.

The 22-year-old is enjoying a spectacular season in black and white, and is becoming one of Eddie Howe’s go-to guys at St James’ Park.

Gordon is proving to be much more influential this season, scoring four goals and providing two assists so far. His most recent goal was the winner against Arsenal, which came about in rather controversial circumstances.

But Gordon is proving that he is the real deal at Newcastle, and justifying the amount of money the Toon owners spent on him at the start of the year.

He is a massive player for Eddie Howe, and that is both because of his efforts with the ball and without.

Anthony Gordon works so hard off the ball for Newcastle

A new article from Sky Sports has explained just how influential Gordon is off the ball. His energy is incredible, and that is summed up by the number of sprints he has been able to produce.

Gordon, who has been described as ‘electric’, has played 794 minutes in the Premier League so far, and in that time he has made 274 sprints. That is more than any other player, with Son Heung-min in second with 264 sprints.

That ability to run at full speed so often is one of Gordon’s biggest attributes, and at full speed he is one of the fastest in the entire Premier League. So far this season, only Dara O’Shea, Dominik Szoboszlai, Pedro Neto and Chiedozie Ogbene have recorded a faster speed than Gordon, who has clocked in at 36.68km/h.

Sky Sports have looked at other stats which reflect well on Gordon. He is in the top 10 for ‘player pressures’, which is basically the amount of times you have pressed an opponent. The winger has completed 313 pressures, 146 of which have been in the final third.

That work off the ball sums up why Eddie Howe absolutely loves Gordon, and why he is much better suited to this Newcastle United than a player who the club sold over the summer in Allan Saint-Maximin.

While Maxi was a maverick capable of moments of genius, he could not do what Gordon can off the ball.