Revealed: The biggest time-wasting teams in the Premier League

All 20 Premier League teams have been ranked

Without doubt, this Premier League season has seen timewasting sky-rocket.

Latest estimates suggest that, for the average Premier League game, the ball is in play for just over half of the match, 55.3 per cent.

This has caused a subsequent rise in the length of additional time, to make up for lost seconds.

While it's not possible to add an extra 40ish minutes to the worst affected games, the average match now lasts some 10 or 11 minutes longer than the traditional 90, often causing logistical nightmares for attending supporters.

While the Premier League work away on tweaks to rules to help clamp down on the impacts of timewasting, fans will be keen to learn which of the 20 Premier League clubs pose the greatest threat to the 90 minute match.

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Thanks to in-depth new research from The Times, making use of Opta statistics, it is finally possible to definitively conclude which clubs waste the most time.

The below table is based upon the amount of time each club keeps the ball in play.

It is calculated through the total ball-in-play time, divided by the total match time over the course of the season for each club.

Premier League's biggest timewasters:

Premier League overall average: 55.28%

1. Bournemouth — 52.99%
2. Newcastle United — 53.02%
3. Tottenham Hotspur — 53.24%
4. Brentford — 53.80%
5. Crystal Palace — 54.40%
6. Sunderland — 54.72%
7. Aston Villa — 54.76%
8. Manchester United — 54.97%
9. Leeds United — 55.09%
10. Wolverhampton Wanderers — 55.28%
11. Chelsea — 55.51%
12. Arsenal — 55.51%
13. Burnley — 55.70%
14. West Ham United — 55.70%
15. Brighton & Hove Albion — 56.07%
16. Fulham — 56.25%
17. Liverpool — 56.32%
18. Nottingham Forest — 56.42%
19. Everton — 57.09%
20. Manchester City — 58.99%

Source: The Times/Opta

As unveiled by The Times, the team that makes sure to keep the ball in play the most are Manchester City, coming in at 20th place in the table with a 58.99 % average of ball-in-play time during their games.

Everton (57.09 %) and Nottingham Forest (56.42%) close out the bottom three.

League leaders Arsenal, perhaps surprisingly, also came in ahead of the average with 55.51%, while north London rivals Spurs — much like their Premier Legaue position — are third from worst overall (53.24%)

The table is rather different when the only data considered is moments within matches when the team in question is in a winning position, attempting to hold onto a lead.

In this case, league leaders Arsenal are the second worst offenders, second only to Leeds United.

Man City's position is also somewhat changed, now appearing in 16th.