Newcastle United have been accused of implementing game delaying tactics and timewasting throughout the season.
Although game management is something that is used by every team in the division, Newcastle have seemingly bore the brunt of these complaints.
And whilst Newcastle certainly don’t shy away from the ‘dark arts’ - are complaints about their tactics justified by the data? Or do the underlying numbers paint a different picture to what is actually going on?
To discover this here we have used data provided by OPTA, to take a look at the average time it takes each Premier League team to restart play from a goal-kick - just one way to judge the amount of time teams can ‘waste’ without the ball being in-play.
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(note: data correct at time of writing)
13. Aston Villa
According to OPTA, Aston Villa take an average of 29.5 seconds to restart play from a goal kick. Photo: Marc Atkins
14. Southampton
According to OPTA, Southampton take an average of 30.6 seconds to restart play from a goal kick. Photo: David Cannon
15. Wolves
According to OPTA, Wolves take an average of 31.6 seconds to restart play from a goal kick. Photo: David Rogers
16. Chelsea
According to OPTA, Chelsea take an average of 31.8 seconds to restart play from a goal kick. Photo: BEN STANSALL