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Martin Tyler's stats: Goal-scoring records, the half-time Premier League table

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Martin Tyler brings you this week's teaser ahead of the Super Sunday clash between West Ham and Southampton.

How would the Premier League table look if matches finished at half-time? Are Manchester City breaking goal-scoring records? Martin Tyler knows...

How to send your questions to Martin:

1: Email your posers to skysportsclub@bskyb.com

2. Tweet @SkyFootball using the hashtag #TylersTeasers

Martin's Starting Stats

I was at London Stadium for Sky Sports on Sunday. West Ham have now conceded two or more goals in 13 of their last 16 league games and they failed to score for the first time in 19 league matches since they lost 1-0 at Southampton in early February.

Charlie Austin scored his fifth goal in four games. Alvaro Arbeloa made his 100th English club appearance, seven years after he made his 98th with Liverpool.

Cuco Martina came on as a substitute on his 27th birthday and Oriol Romeu got a card a day late after his 25th birthday - a yellow card.

Also See:

Southampton got their first away win/points under Claude Puel. In all competitions it was a fourth consecutive win with four consecutive clean sheets.

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Premier League Weekend Round-up

Keeping them waiting

How long was the wait between Paul Pogba's Premier League debut and his first goal? Is this a record? Al

MARTIN SAYS: Paul Pogba scored his first Premier League goal for Manchester United against Leicester at the weekend, ending a wait of nearly five years since making his debut in the competition.

The French midfielder first appeared for United in the Premier League against Stoke in January 2012, but his four-year spell at Juventus in between meant he had to wait until his return to score in the English top flight.

That, however, is just the 78th longest wait between a Premier League debut and a first goal in the competition.

Crystal Palace's Damien Delaney (right) and Reading's Hal Robson-Kanu in action
Image: Damien Delaney (right) had to wait 13 years for his first Premier League goal

Damien Delaney owns that particular record having first appeared in the Premier League for Leicester in March 2001, before having to wait more than 13 years for a goal, which he scored for Crystal Palace in May 2014.

Former defender Craig Fleming had to wait almost as long, having first appeared for Oldham in December 1992 before scoring for Norwich in February 2005.

Most players in this list left the Premier League at times during their waits, apart from Peter Schmeichel. The longest wait for an outfield player who did not leave the Premier League was Claus Lundekvam, who made his debut in September 1996 and did not score his first goal until April, 2004.

Longest waits between Premier League debut and first goal

Position Player Date of debut Date of first goal
1 Damien Delaney 17/03/2001 05/05/2014
2 Craig Fleming 12/12/1992 05/02/2005
3 Erik Nevland 19/01/1998 12/04/2008
4 Andy Gray 13/01/1996 13/08/2005
5 Ian Evatt 19/05/2001 27/11/2010
6 Liam Rosenior 13/12/2004 22/03/2014
7 Gary Caldwell 04/11/2000 27/01/2010
8 Peter Schmeichel 15/08/1992 20/10/2001
9 Chris Morgan 10/01/1998 02/12/2006
10 Gary McSheffrey 27/02/1999 02/12/2007
78 Paul Pogba 31/12/2012 24/09/2016

Hammered by half-time 

Have the defending champions ever conceded four in the first half of a Premier League match before? Cris

MARTIN SAYS: No they have not. Leicester became the first defending champions to concede four times in the first half of a Premier League match as they were hammered 4-1 by United on Saturday.

Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Pogba all netted in the first 45 minutes as Leicester were overrun at Old Trafford.

There have, however, been four occasions when the defending champions have conceded three times by half-time in the Primer League era;  Blackburn in 1995 as they were beaten 3-0 by Liverpool, and Manchester United on three occasions since.

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Watch Paul Pogba score his first goal for Man Utd

Sir Alex Ferguson's side conceded three before the break in their infamous 3-1 loss at Southampton in October 1996 - when they changed from their grey shirts before coming out for the second half - and again against Middlesbrough in May 1997 (although they drew that game 3-3).

They also went 3-0 down against Tottenham in September 2000 - although they stormed back in the second half to win 5-3.

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Turning the tables

How would the Premier League table look if all matches finished at half-time? Where would Sunderland be? (Sam, Sunderland)

MARTIN SAYS: Interestingly enough, Manchester City would still be leading the Premier League if all the games so far this season had ended at half-time, albeit with two less points than they currently have.

Liverpool and Arsenal would also both be in the top four, however, it would be Manchester United rather than Tottenham (who drop to seventh), completing the Champions League places.

Nacer Chadli celebrates scoring his sides first goal with Salomon Rondón of West Brom
Image: West Brom would be higher up the table if points were taken at half-time

Elsewhere, Everton remain fifth, but West Brom and Middlesbrough are the big movers, with Tony Pulis' side riding high in sixth, as opposed to their current position of 10th, and 'Boro up seven spots to eighth.

At the bottom of the table, meanwhile, Stoke and West Ham remain in the relegation zone, although the former would now be bottom of the table rather than 19th, while Swansea fall into the drop zone.

The biggest beneficiaries, though, are Sunderland - last in the standings at present, but if all this season's matches had finished at half-time, then the Black Cats would be in 15th place having collected five more points.

Premier League if games finished at half-time

P W D L F A GD Pts
Man City 6 5 1 0 10 2 +8 16
Liverpool 6 4 1 1 9 4 +5 13
Arsenal 6 3 3 0 9 2 +7 12
Man Utd 6 3 1 2 7 3 +4 10
Everton 6 2 3 1 5 3 +2 9
West Brom 6 1 5 0 4 1 +3 8
Tottenham 6 2 2 2 3 2 +1 8
Middlesbrough 6 2 2 2 5 6 -1 8
Bournemouth 6 2 2 2 2 3 -1 8
Chelsea 6 2 2 2 3 5 -2 8
Watford 6 2 1 3 10 10 0 7
Burnley 6 2 1 3 4 8 -4 7
Leicester 6 2 1 3 3 7 -4 7
Crystal Palace 6 1 3 2 3 3 0 6
Southampton 6 1 3 2 2 3 -1 6
Sunderland 6 1 3 2 1 3 -2 6
Hull 6 1 3 2 1 4 -3 6
Swansea 6 0 4 2 1 3 -2 4
West Ham 6 0 3 3 2 8 -6 3
Stoke 6 0 2 4 0 6 -6 2

Scoring goals for fun

Man City have scored 18 goals in six games this season. That's three per game on average. Is that a record? (Jake, London)

MARTIN SAYS: Free-flowing City have made a brilliant start to the season having scored 18 goals in their opening six matches, however, that is not a Premier League record.

That is jointly held by Kevin Keegan's Newcastle and Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, who both netted 22 times in their first six games of the 1994/95 and 2011/12 campaigns respectively.

SWANSEA, WALES - SEPTEMBER 24: Sergio Aguero of Manchester City celebrates scoring his sides first goal  during the Premier League match between Swansea Ci
Image: Sergio Aguero has been in fine form for Manchester City

A warning for Pep Guardiola and co, though, as on both occasions neither side went on to win that season's title, with Newcastle finishing in sixth place, while United were runners-up to City, albeit on goal difference.

In fact, of the nine other teams other than this City side to have scored 18 or more goals in their opening six fixtures of a Premier League season, only two have gone on to win the league.

And that duo were the aforementioned City side of 2011/12 and Jose Mourinho's Chelsea team of 2014/15, who both found the back of the net 19 times in the first six encounters of those respective title-winning campaigns.

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