When writing his Premier League predictions, the BBC‘s Mark Lawrenson had some words of praise for Leeds stalwart Kalvin Phillips.
When discussing Leeds’ chances of a result against Aston Villa tonight, the pundit wrote: ‘Kalvin Phillips is out injured, which is a blow to Leeds because he covers acres and acres for them.’
Lawrenson isn’t wrong.
The Yorkshire-based club’s academy graduate has covered nearly every blade of grass this season judging by his heatmap on SofaScore.
The same statistics site also reveals the sheer amount of work Phillips gets through.
Impressively, the Leeds No.23 records an average of 3.4 tackles in every Premier League game he’s played this season.
Phillips – whose displays have been rewarded with a few England caps by Gareth Southgate – also wins a total of 6.2 duels per game, while also registering 1.6 interceptions per 90 minutes in England’s top-flight.
The 24-year-old is the lynchpin of Marcelo Bielsa’s high-intensity set-up, and Lawrenson is more than correct to say that Leeds have been hit by the news of his shoulder injury.
Part of his unbelievable stamina could be down to Bielsa’s ‘Murderball’ training drill.
As reported by The Yorkshire Post, Phillips’ teammate Mateusz Klich described the Argentine’s intense session, in which staff members stand pitch-side with a ball and don’t allow any stoppages in the intense 11-a-side clash.
‘Basically playing 11 v 11 with no stops, constantly running around and sprinting, and you have all the coaches on the pitch basically screaming all the time. Even if the ball goes out, there’s a member of staff waiting with another ball.’
For Leeds’ sake, let’s hope the defensive-midfielder can return to action as soon as possible.
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