Mauricio Pochettino's first game in charge of Tottenham was a 1-0 victory over tonight’s opponents, West Ham, on August 16 2014.

His players covered 109.8km between them that day but 19 months later they run, on average, almost 8km more a game. The Argentine manager is known for his tough demands and his squad were still undertaking at least one double training session a week until recently, despite still competing on three fronts.

But Pochettino's programme has not slowed his players on matchday. Indeed, the title favourites are running harder than any of their Premier League rivals at this stage of the season.

Based on the first eight matches of 2016, Spurs have clocked up an average of 117.74km per 90 minutes —the best in the Premier League and 5km more than north London rivals, Arsenal.

KM RUN PER GAME Dele Alli 11.86 Tom Carroll 11.81 Christian Eriksen 11.57 Josh Onomah 11.46 Erik Lamela 11.38 Ryan Mason 11.25 Nabil Bentaleb 10.92 Heung-Min Son 10.79 Clinton N’Jie 10.66 Kieran Trippier 10.54

But Pochettino's rotational policy means his players aren't suffering from burnout

"He's found his team as they say, the important thing in this squad is that whoever plays he's managing the rotation very well," Erik Lamela said of the Spurs bpss.

"We hardly ever repeat the same team and that's good, it means we aren't just 11 players but a whole squad.

"Our practices are hard and that also helps the team to give their utmost."

Players Pochettino brought into the squad over the summer have made a big impact as the table shows.

Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League