Thursday 13 August 2015 10:13, UK
This week, Martin Tyler's column looks at opening-day form, English contingents and how promoted sides fare...
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 Stoke on Super Sunday to see Philippe Coutinho score a late winner. Last season he started 32 Premier League games and was substituted 17 times and we knew he was about to be substituted when he scored.
He was Liverpool’s player of the year and players’ player of the year and scored their goal of the season in a 2-0 win at Southampton live on Sky Sports. He has made a good start in the defence of all those honours.
Stoke have now won only won one of their eight opening-day Premier League fixtures, which was 2-0 at Burnley at home in 2009.
Geoff Cameron made his 100th Premier League appearance and Steve Sidwell came on for his 200th career Premier League appearance. Marco van Ginkel made his first Premier League start after two substitute appearances for Chelsea in August 2013.
Simon Mignolet let in six on the last day of last season, but Sunday was more akin to his Liverpool debut when he kept a clean sheet at home to Stoke in a 1-0 win and saved an 89th-minute penalty by Jonathan Walters.
James Milner was not a Liverpool player last season and kept up an unbeaten record against Stoke in all competitions: P13 W8 D5 L0. In the Premier League that record is: P11 W6 D5 L0.
Safe already?
Leicester won at the weekend and I fancy us to beat West Ham as well. Has a team ever won their first two games and been relegated? Matty J
MARTIN SAYS: Leicester were one of seven Premier League teams to taste victory in their opening fixture over the weekend (along with Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and West Ham).
Thanks to our friends at Opta, I can tell you that in the Premier League era, only one side has managed to win their first two matches and fail to beat the drop. In 2011/12 Wolves won 2-1 at Blackburn before seeing off Fulham 2-0, but they would only go on to win three more games as they finished rock bottom with 25 points.
Before that, the last side to achieve the same unwanted feat was Chelsea back in 1987/88. The Blues beat Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth, but then finished 18th in the First Division and lost their top-flight status by way of a play-off against Second Division side Middlesbrough.
So history suggests that whoever wins Saturday’s clash between Leicester and West Ham is unlikely to suffer relegation at the end of the season.
But a word of warning… Carlisle United were promoted to the old First Division in 1974 and they won their first three games (2-0 away to Chelsea, 2-0 away to Middlesbrough and 1-0 at home to Tottenham) and ended up being relegated bottom of the 22-team division with 29 points (but remember it was two points for a win back then). That was their only season in the top flight.
Tough for new boys
The promoted teams earned one point between them this weekend. Is this the worst return for the three promoted teams on the opening matchday? Mark
MARTIN SAYS: It’s never easy for promoted sides to hit the ground running, as has been shown by defeats for Bournemouth and Norwich this time around, while play-off winners Watford secured a draw at Everton.
No Premier League season has seen all three teams win on the opening weekend. The best return is SIX points which came in 1997/98 when Bolton won at Southampton and Crystal Palace beat Everton, while Barnsley opened with a 2-1 home defeat to West Ham.
Only four of the 24 Premier League seasons (including this one) have seen every promoted team lose on the opening day. Those seasons were:
1993/94: Newcastle, West Ham, Swindon
2002/03: Man City, West Brom, Birmingham
2009/10: Wolves, Birmingham, Burnley
2013/14: Cardiff, Hull, Crystal Palace
*In 1995 only two teams were promoted. Middlesbrough drew with Arsenal and Bolton lost to Wimbledon.
No full English
How many English players started on the opening weekend. Is this season a record low? #TylersTeasers Allan
MARTIN SAYS: This season has set a new record low, with just 88 English players starting out of the 220 who began the campaign for the 20 Premier League teams (40 per cent). The previous low was 90 in 2014.
Only one of the last nine seasons has seen the number go above 100 – there were 102 in 2010 – while you have to go back to the 2001/02 campaign to see more than half, when 113 Englishmen took to the field for the first matchday (51.3 per cent). Last season saw 97 Englishmen start on the opening weekend.
The opening season, meanwhile, saw the most as 198 English players featured in the starting line-ups, although that was back when there were 22 teams in the division. The record for a 20-team Premier League is 169 in 1996.
Best and worst starters
Which Premier League team is on the longest run of opening-day wins and which teams don’t tend to win their first match? #TylersTeasers
MARTIN SAYS: In terms of the Premier League, Chelsea’s draw against Swansea continued their impressive run on the opening day. The Blues have not lost any of their last 17 opening fixtures in the Premier League and their last loss was in 1998 when they lost 2-1 to Coventry. That run is five more than the next best run, which belongs to Leeds United.
Manchester City last lost on the opening day in 2008, when Aston Villa ran out 4-2 winners thanks to a Gabby Agbonlahor hat-trick. Two weeks later the club were taken over by the current owners, and they haven’t been beaten in their opening fixture since (seven times).
Other teams on unbeaten runs in the top flight are Derby and Fulham, who are both five without defeat, but will have to find their way out of the Championship to improve on that run
At the other side of the scale, Norwich’s defeat at home to Crystal Palace was their seventh game without a win in their opening Premier League fixture, putting them level with QPR in the worst current run.
Stoke saw Liverpool get revenge for their 6-1 hammering at the Britannia Stadium at the end of last season, with Brendan Rodgers’ men winning 1-0 to leave the Potters without a first-game victory in six attempts.
Also sitting on six games without a win on the opening day are Sunderland, who were well beaten on Saturday as Leicester ran out 4-2 winners at the King Power Stadium.
