The Premier League’s Worst Time Wasters—Ranked

Arsenal rank as one of the division’s slowest restarters, yet they are not top.

Mikel Arteta has plenty of reason to look at his watch this season. | Catherine Ivill-AMA/Getty Images

There is a fundamental conflict at the heart of soccer. This product sold to the masses at an extortionate price as an entertainment industry is carried out by players and managers paid to simply win games—often by any means possible.

“If you have a Ferrari and I have a small car,” the two-time Premier League winner José Mourinho once mused, “to beat you in a race I have to break your wheel or put sugar in your tank.”

Time-wasting has been the dark art with a spotlight shone on it most consistently in recent years. FIFA are so hell-bent on removing this nefarious aspect of the game that they are set to introduce a series of drastic new rules at this summer’s World Cup.

The Premier League has tried to combat this seedy underside to the sport by extending the time tacked on to the end of each half. Yet, some clubs have been able to consistently while away however many minutes are put on the clock.

The Times have conducted an in-depth analysis of how much time each club spends during each different type of restart, looking specifically at when a team is winning—a crucial marker in terms of the most deliberately sinister reasons for winding down the clock.

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How Every Premier League Team Wastes Time While Leading

The time added at the end of each half has grown in recent years. | Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Team	Corners	Direct Free-Kicks	Indirect Free-Kicks	Goal Kicks	Throw-Ins	Average Rank
Leeds	11th	1st	4th	8th	3rd	5.4
Arsenal	2nd	6th	9th	4th	8th	5.8
Burnley	1st	16th	7th	1st	6th	6.2
Brentford	6th	12th	5th	9th	2nd	6.8
Aston Villa	5th	5th	16th	6th	4th	7.2
Sunderland	8th	16th	3rd	11th	1st	7.8
Tottenham	4th	4th	6th	20th	10th	8.8
Newcastle	13th	3rd	10th	3rd	20th	9.8
Crystal Palace	3rd	16th	8th	15th	9th	10.2
Wolves	20th	13th	2nd	2nd	17th	10.8
Everton	7th	14th	12th	17th	5th	11
West Ham	16th	16th	1st	16th	7th	11.2
Man Utd	12th	11th	14th	7th	16th	12
Nottingham Forest	14th	8th	15th	13th	11th	12.2
Bournemouth	9th	7th	19th	19th	12th	13.2
Man City	17th	2nd	20th	10th	18th	13.4
Chelsea	18th	15th	11th	5th	19th	13.6
Liverpool	10th	10th	17th	18th	14th	13.8
Brighton	15th	9th	18th	14th	15th	14.2
Fulham	19th	16th	13th	12th	13th	14.6

When looking across corners, free kicks, goal kicks and throw-ins, it’s Leeds United who boast the longest average time to get the game going again while defending a lead. Daniel Farke has ironically spent a great deal of energy complaining about time-wasting from opponents, most notably taking aim after both games against Manchester City.

However, the numbers tell a different story. The Yorkshire outfit are particularly ponderous over throw-ins, sending Ethan Ampadu across for long launches into the box at any restart in the final third, as well as direct free-kicks. And for good reason: Anton Stach has already rattled in three set-piece goals this season.

Fellow promoted side Burnley have also dawdled over restarts while desperately trying to cling onto a rare lead, underscoring an understandable sense of inferiority among clubs that spent last season in the Championship. How Arsenal, the top-flight leaders and serial title challengers, find themselves in this same category is rather more eyebrow raising.

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Arsenal Break Top-Six Trend With Tactics

Mikel Arteta has come under fire for his tactics. | Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

The Gunners have been repeatedly accused of dark arts this season. Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hürzeler captured a widely held sentiment with a frazzled rant in March after losing 1–0 to Arsenal in a horribly bitty affair on the south coast. “Only one team tried to play football,” the young German coach sighed.

“I ask you one question,” Hürzeler posed to assembled media. “Did you see in a Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times? You can’t control these kind of things ... therefore the Premier League has to find a rule.”

Arsenal are the only Premier League team that rank among the top half of the division for time wasted across all five types of restart. As Hürzeler pointed out, there is a particular delay when the north London outfit take corners, with only Burnley needing more time to prepare for such deliveries while they are winning.

Arteta could justifiably argue that this preparation is well spent—Arsenal comfortably lead the league for corners scored and Nicolas Jover can’t instantaneously appear on the edge of the technical area—but the club’s rivals aren’t impressed.

“No one recognizes it,” Hürzeler seethed, “but when Arsenal have a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over a minute just to take a corner.” Now people are noticing.

Pep Guardiola has a contract until 2027. | Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

Time Wasted While Winning over Type of Restart	Arsenal Premier League Rank	Man City Premier League Rank
Corner	2nd	17th
Direct Free-Kick	6th	2nd
Indirect Free-Kick	9th	20th
Goal Kick	4th	10th
Throw-In	8th	18th

Intriguingly, Arsenal break the trend of elite teams when it comes to time-wasting. Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all rank among the five clubs who are quickest at getting the ball back in play (along with Hürzeler’s Brighton themselves).

City serve as a telling counterpoint to Arsenal as their closest title rivals. Pep Guardiola is not entirely opposed to dead-ball tactics, recognizing it’s importance in the modern game, but is adamant that his team has other priorities.

“Of course you have to be concerned and prepared,” Guardiola mused earlier this season, “but at the same time always there are a lot of things you prepare for the game so be focused with that and you as a manager have to decide what you like to work with. And there are other things I prefer to work with.”

This balance of values is abundantly apparent on the pitch. While Arsenal have struggled for consistent fluency beyond corner kicks—a problem only heightened as title race tensions heat up—City remain the most prolific side from open play, boasting an unrivaled 52 Premier League goals from such scenarios. No team is within 10 of that lofty figure.

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