Premier League Players With the Most Touches in 2025/26 — and How They Use Possession

Stats have come a long way since the Premier League began in 1992.

Fans can now easily check how far each player runs per game or how many aerial duels they win or lose.

Touches have also become a big deal in recent years. Broadcasters and stats whizzes often use touch maps to highlight whenever record-breaker Erling Haaland is supposedly having a quiet game.

But what constitutes a touch? And which players have the most and the fewest in the Premier League? FootballBlog.co.uk explains all below.

What constitutes a touch in football statistics?

Football statisticians do not simply count one touch for each time a player makes contact with the ball. It is one touch per action involving the ball.

For example, if a player were to collect the ball inside their own penalty area and dribble the length of the pitch to score without passing or being tackled, that would count as one touch. On a touch map, each touch is recorded in the area where the final action (pass, shot, loss of possession, etc.) occurs.

Which player has had the most touches in the Premier League this season?

Elliot Anderson has had more touches of the ball than any other player in the first eight rounds of Premier League fixtures this season. According to Opta, the Nottingham Forest midfielder has recorded 808 touches, averaging 101 per match.

Only 22 of those 808 touches have come inside the opposition penalty area, while just nine have resulted in Anderson taking a shot. Ten of Anderson’s touches have ended with him creating a scoring chance for a Forest teammate, although he has only one assist so far.

Defensively, Anderson, who has been linked with a possible return to former club Newcastle, has made 22 tackles, seven interceptions and seven clearances. He has also completed 627 passes — more than any other Premier League player. Of those, 93.9% have been short passes, while 88.5% have successfully found a teammate.

Elliot Anderson’s Premier League touch map for 2025/26

After Anderson, the next player with the most touches in the Premier League this season has been Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. The Dutch defender has had 738 touches, including nine in the opposition 18-yard box.

Van Dijk has made four tackles, eight interceptions, 11 blocks and eight clearances, while completing 89.5% of his 622 attempted passes.

Including Van Dijk, six of the ten players with the most Premier League touches this season are central defenders. This highlights the modern trend of teams playing out from the back.

Centre-backs in sides that dominate possession against opponents who sit deep are often the players who see the most of the ball, as their teams patiently circulate possession while probing for openings.

Top 10 Premier League players with the most touches in 2025/26

Name (Club)	Touches	Minutes	Touches per min
1. Elliot Anderson (Nottm Forest)	808	720	1.12
2. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)	738	720	1.03
3. Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)	650	720	0.90
4. Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth)	641	708	0.91
5. Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton)	635	720	0.88
6. Pascal Struijk (Leeds)	621	720	0.86
7. Bruno Fernandes (Man United)	613	712	0.86
8. Lewis Dunk (Brighton)	612	720	0.85
9. Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal)	591	720	0.82
10. Neco Williams (Nottm Forest)	588	720	0.82

Which player has had the fewest touches in the Premier League this season?

Of players who have been on the pitch for an average of at least 30 minutes per match this season, the man with the fewest touches has been Sunderland forward Eliezer Mayenda, with just 57.

The 20-year-old has averaged 9.5 touches per game across six appearances so far, but he did score in Sunderland’s 3-0 win over West Ham on the opening weekend.

In fact, six of the ten qualifying players with the fewest touches have scored at least once this season, with Wilson Isidor netting three times. Isidor, also of Sunderland, is currently averaging one goal every 32.3 touches.

Premier League players with the fewest touches per game in 2025/26

Name (Club)	Touches	Minutes	Touches per min	Goals
1. Eliezer Mayenda (Sunderland)	57	260	0.22	1
2. Alexander Isak (Liverpool)	79	253	0.31	0
3. Donyell Malen (Aston Villa)	95	292	0.33	2
4. Wilson Isidor (Sunderland)	97	456	0.21	3
5. Daniel James (Leeds)	99	240	0.41	0
6. Rodrigo Muniz (Fulham)	107	319	0.34	1
7. Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves)	111	278	0.40	1
8. Simon Adingra (Sunderland)	112	275	0.40	0
9. Jacob Larsen (Burnley)	113	295	0.38	0
10. Brennan Johnson (Spurs)	116	273	0.42	2