Pictures of new manager Sean Dyche putting the Everton players through their paces with some intensive training sessions at Finch Farm last week appears to have paid off after the running figures for their 1-0 win over Premier League leaders Arsenal were revealed.
Some members of the Blues squad looked visibly shattered as their grinning gaffer watched on but it seems like it was a case of ‘no pain, no gain’ for them as the team subsequently put in shift to achieve their first Premier League victory since October 22 and inflict what was only the second defeat in the competition this term for Mikel Arteta’s table-topping side.
Speaking about making his Everton charges take a bleep test, Dyche told BT Sport: “It’s not lack of fitness. It’s a measure. One measure, we’ve got different measures.
“I don’t question other managers, there’s misconstrued ideas. It’s not some kind of bee sting, it’s a measure. I’ve got years of facts and stats on what the body needs to deliver.
'We’ve got measures, we’ll do others this week. It’s not about proving a point.
“I explained that to them. Gauge how our style fits their body’s capabilities.”
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While Dyche has come in at Everton midway through a campaign, there was one annual summer training routine that reached legendary status during his time at Burnley – ‘Gaffer’s Day’ – a gruelling test of fitness, stamina and team spirit with all ball work off limits. The 51-year-old acknowledged he had to try and fast-track five weeks of pre-season work into just five days but the hard-running it seems paid off when it came to toppling the division’s leading team.
Statistics revealed on BBC’s Match of the Day showed that Everton’s players covered more ground between them in the win against Arsenal than they’d done in any other Premier League match so far this season. The Blues ran a collective 116.4km (approximately 72 miles) when defeating the Gunners – the equivalent of going from Goodison Park to Leeds United’s Elland Road ground.
This was some 3km further than their next best effort, 113.4km, posted in the 2-0 home defeat to Leicester City on November 5. Elland Road was indeed their venue for the third highest total, 112.7 in the 1-1 draw with Leeds on August 30 with the fourth and fifth positions also away from home: 112.6km in the 1-1 draw at champions Manchester City on December 31 and 111.1km in the 2-1 comeback win at Southampton on October 1.
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