Nottinghamshire

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Speed has become such a defining aspect of Premier League football for years now. Whether it's lightning-quick wingers tearing down the flanks or centre-backs chasing down counterattacks, speed can be the difference between winning and losing.

With that in mind, let's have a look at the fastest players in the Premier League this season.

Tottenham Hotspur's Micky van de Ven was the fastest player in the top-flight during this campaign, reaching a top speed of 23.1 miles per hour

Manchester City midfielder-turned-right-back Matheus Nunes was the second-fastest, just ahead of Nottingham Forest's speed merchant Anthony Elanga.

Not only does Bryan Mbeumo run a lot and sprint a lot, he's fast too…the whole package!

As for the slowest players, the above data looks at outfield players that racked up at least 10 full games' worth of minutes – to give them a chance to build up some steam.

In that metric, Wolves' 35-year-old defender Craig Dawson was the slowest player, reaching a top speed of 18.4 miles per hour.

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva and West Ham's Tomas Soucek may be among the slowest players, but they were also two of the hardest runners - covering over seven miles per 90 minutes - which shows they were built for stamina over speed.

We asked you to select your Nottingham Forest player of the season from the four candidates chosen by our fan contributor.

And with the poll now closed, we can reveal the winner is... Nikola Milenkovic!

Here's what Pat Riddell at The Famous Club, external said about him:

One of the Premier League's signings of last summer, Milenkovic has shored up a leaky defence - solving the club's set-piece problem in an instant and given Forest a platform this season that few could imagine. His centre-back partnership with Murillo is surely one of the league's best and there must be several clubs wondering why they didn't act sooner.

See the final poll breakdown

Image source, Getty Images

Colin Fray
BBC Radio Nottingham reporter

Image source, Getty Images

That Nottingham Forest and their supporters were disappointed at missing out on a place in the Champions League speaks volumes about the strides the club has taken over the past 12 months.

The final whistle at the weekend brought with it a strange mix of feelings. While celebrating European football returning to the City Ground for the first time in a generation and acknowledging the efforts of a small, ultimately too-thin squad in taking the behemoths of English football all the way in the race to finish in the top five, it did feel a little flat.

Being one equaliser away from the Europa League undoubtedly hurts, as does not claiming an extra couple of points somewhere along the way that would have meant Champions League football.

But this season will be remembered as the best in 30 years, with some huge landmarks along the way such as being the first Premier League team ever to double their points tally year-on-year and the first Forest team ever to win at Anfield and Old Trafford in the same season.

Beating Liverpool was also their first win at Anfield in 55 years.

There was the huge win over Brighton, a golden glove for the excellent Matz Sels, a monumental first season in English football for player of the season Nikola Milenkovic, some remarkable goalline clearances (Murillo and Harry Toffolo spring to mind!), 20 goals for Chris Wood, a first FA Cup semi-final since 1991, and for the travelling fans, 10 away wins.

For context, across their previous three seasons in the top flight, they had won nine.

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All this for a team and a club widely tipped to be relegated by a number of high-profile pundits ahead of the season. Even the most optimistic Forest fan might have struggled to see a top-half finish, and now they have a European campaign to prepare for.

An interesting summer lies ahead because the current squad struggled with a whole season of Premier League football. Ultimately, it was half a dozen games too thin as fatigue and injuries kicked in.

As they try to develop further for next season, depth would have been needed - even without Thursday nights across Europe to consider!

Listen to full commentary on every Nottingham Forest game, and In The Game every weeknight from 18:00, on BBC Radio Nottingham.

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Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Bournemouth and Tottenham were the most physical teams in the Premier League this season when considering the distance they covered and the number of sprints performed.

The results might explain why they had a lot of injuries.

Newcastle and Brighton were not too far behind though, with Brighton actually covering the most ground in the league, with fewer sprints.

Chelsea and Liverpool's style of play saw them sprint a lot but not cover a lot of ground, while Manchester City and Arsenal were the opposite (ran a lot but didn't sprint a lot).

Nottingham Forest very much had their own style of play this season as they both ran and sprinted the least.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson praised Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels.

Sels was instrumental in Forest achieving European football for next season as he recorded 13 clean sheets during the campaign. The Belgian shot-stopper made 120 across the season, with only three goalkeepers making more.

"The big compliment you can pay Matz Sels, I don't think he's technically one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League," Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast.

"But you look at another stat this season, which is what I like to look at, is the amount of saves he's made and the biggest stat I like, save to shot per cent ratio - that's how you can judge a goalkeeper.

"Selz has won the Golden Glove, but he's also second in the number of saves he's made. So, he's not only relied on the brilliance of Milenkovic and Murillo in front of him and the defence being solid and the team being organised, he's had to make a number of saves to contribute to that. You've got to take your hat off to him, he's had a fantastic season."

Pat Riddell
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Season rating: 8/10. Another two goals on the final day, or another two points in the run-in, and it could have been a nine. That and winning the FA Cup would probably have made it a 10.

Happy with your manager? Absolutely delighted. Nuno Espirito Santo took the bones of this squad, spent pre-season instilling his methods and tactics, and brought the best out of every one of his first XI. Granted, there were a few moments when you could question his judgement - but they were rare. He got almost everything right in almost every game.

Unsung hero: It was hard to pick a player of the season - although Nikola Milenkovic was probably easily ahead of everyone else - but I think Neco Williams deserves huge praise for his season. He very clearly had talent and commitment when we signed him but, switching from right-back to left-back, he has been exceptional this year. Defensively and attacking, he has been as consistent as anyone could ask.

Player you would most like to sign: We need several new additions this summer, as our only deficiency this season has been squad depth. But I think the obvious name is Liam Delap. He may well end up elsewhere but we're desperately lacking competition up front and his strong, aggressive forward play is the kind of signing we need.

Right now, my overriding emotion from the season is: Pride. I mean, the disappointment hurts - being so close to the Champions League and FA Cup glory is a lot to get over. But we have massively overachieved with very few injuries, a squad that cost a fraction of the clubs around us - and completely baffled the pundits, who had us down for relegation again. It is huge progress from where we have been and we can only hope it is just the start of things.

Do you agree with Pat's answers? Pick one or two categories and send your views

Find more from Pat Riddell at The Famous Club, external

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Here's my quick assessment of Nottingham Forest's Premier League season - and a return to my August predictions.

Pre-season prediction: 16th

Ended the season: 7th

The fact there was even the mere talk of disappointment at missing out on the Champions League illustrates what a superb season Nottingham Forest have had under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Yes, a strong position was wasted, but if you had offered any Forest fan solid safety at the start of the season, let alone European football, they would have signed up instantly.

Striker Chris Wood had the season of his life, while the coveted Morgan Gibbs-White was outstanding. Goalkeeper Matz Sels was top class, and defensive duo Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic provided the bedrock.

Owner Evangelos Marinakis never hides his ambition, so expect more big moves in readiness for Europe.

What I said in August: "If Forest keep this squad together (and they are always looking to add), then I see them staying up."

Read my assessments of the other 19 teams here