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Worth the wait

Martin has stats on Suarez's strikes, City's goals and Spurs' away days

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Martin Tyler brings you his latest teaser ahead of Manchester United's visit to Chelsea.

Jose Mourinho's home record and the players with the longest wait between games... it's Martin Tyler.

Tyler's Teaser

Every week, Martin will set you a question of his own to get your grey matter working. Click above for this week's Tyler's Teaser - which comes from Stamford Bridge

Send your questions to Martin

1: Email your posers to skysportsclub@bskyb.com 2. Use the feedback form at the bottom of this page.

Martin's Starting Stats

I was at Stamford Bridge on Super Sunday, where Samuel Eto'o became the fourth player to score a hat trick in the Premier League against Manchester United after David Bentley for Blackburn (February 2006), Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool (March 2011) and Romelu Lukaku for West Brom (May 2103). Egil Ostenstad has a match ball from Southampton's 6-3 win over Manchester United in 1996 - but one of his strikes has officially been recorded as a Denis Irwin own goal. Chelsea are now six games unbeaten in all competitions against Manchester United, who have lost at Stamford Bridge for three visits in a row. Before Sunday, Chelsea won 1-0 in last season's FA Cup quarter-final replay and 5-4 in the League Cup. Those three losses were against three different Chelsea managers - Roberto Di Matteo, Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho. Chelsea have won their last four in the Premier League and are unbeaten in seven. Javier Hernandez's goal is only the second they have conceded in the last seven (all competitions) after Martin Skrtel for Liverpool. However, Hernandez continued a fine record against Chelsea. It was his eighth goal against them in 13 appearances, starting with his debut in the Community Shield in August 2010. Chelsea's overall record against Manchester United is better than any other Premier League team with 15 wins and 13 defeats (they are the only side with a positive record against them). However, over that period United can point to 13 titles to Chelsea's three. Jose Mourinho enjoyed his 100th Premier League win in142 games. His overall record is: P142 W100 D29 L13 329pts. His record at Stamford Bridge is: P71 W56 D15 F148 A37 183pts. That leads us on to our first question....

Jose's home comforts

Dear Martin, As a Chelsea fan in Zambia, I am very excited to note that our manager now holds the record of the quickest manager to hit 100 Premier League victories - 100 wins in 142 games - achieved against Manchester United on Sunday. But then, there is another equally important statistic which has not been highlighted as much: his home victories of 71 out of 142 (which works to 1 victory in every 2 games). Could this be a record for a Premier League manager? How would the top 10 Premier League of 71 home victories for managers look like? Regards, Nebert Mulenga MARTIN SAYS: You are correct to say that that Jose Mourinho has picked up 100 victories from his 142 Premier League games in charge and that he is the quickest manager in the competition's history to reach that tally, doing so faster than Sir Alex Ferguson (162 games), Arsene Wenger (179 games), Rafael Benitez (181) and Kenny Dalglish (197). It should be pointed out that Dalglish only needed 161 games to get to 100 top division wins (many came before the Premier League era) and Liverpool fans might be interested to hear that Bob Paisley took 179 games to get to 100 top division wins, while Bill Shankly took 193. It's also worth pointing out that for many years the competition was much more evenly divided. Liverpool had a period of supremacy in the 1970's / 1980's and Arsenal did the same in the 1930's and Huddersfield in the 1920's but overall it was much harder to record a lot of wins quickly. Remember all players were paid the same and the maximum wage ensured equality of competition until the early 1960's. However, you have your stats slightly mixed up with regards to home wins. He has been in charge of 71 home Premier League games and won 56 of them. Thanks to Opta I can tell you that no manager has achieved 56 home victories that quickly. Arsene Wenger needed 78 home games to reach that tally, while Sir Alex Ferguson needed 79: 10 quickest Premier League managers to 56 home wins: Jose Mourinho (71)
Arsene Wenger (78)
Alex Ferguson (79)
Kevin Keegan (80)
Rafael Benitez (80)
Kenny Dalglish (84)
Bobby Robson (88)
Gerard Houllier (98)
David O'Leary (99)
David Moyes (106) If Mourinho continues on at the current rate he will need 127 matches to reach 100 home Premier League wins, which would be a new Premier League record. As it stands, only four men have achieved that tally. The quickest was Arsene Wenger, who did it in just 139 games. Managers with 100 Premier League home wins: Arsene Wenger (139 matches)
Sir Alex Ferguson (141)
David Moyes (193)
Harry Redknapp (205)

Suarez scoring

Dear Martin. This season Luis Suarez has scored in almost every game, including games against Crystal Palace, Cardiff and Hull City. I believe I am now right in saying he has scored against every Premier League team (be it not all in the same season). How many times has this happened that a player has scored against all league teams? John MARTIN SAYS: You would NOT be right to suggest that Luis Suarez has scored against every Premier League team he has faced. Thanks to our friends at Opta, I can tell you that he has played Premier League games against 26 different teams and has scored against 21 of them. He has scored against Norwich (11), Sunderland (7), Wigan (6), Fulham (4), Stoke (3), West Brom (3), Tottenham (3), Everton (3), QPR (3), Cardiff (2), Chelsea (2), Newcastle (2), Arsenal (2), West Ham (2), Man City (1), Swansea (1), Aston Villa (1), Hull (1), Crystal Palace (1), Man Utd (1), Wolves (1) He has failed to score against Southampton (2 matches), Reading (2 matches), Birmingham (1 match), Bolton (1 match) and Blackburn (1 match). As you can see, he has scored against 18 of the 20 current Premier League teams. The two exceptions are Liverpool - as he has obviously never faced them - and Southampton. He faced the Saints twice last season without scoring against them and was suspended when the sides met at Anfield earlier this season and Southampton won 1-0. He will get the chance to add them to his list of scalps when they meet at St Mary's on Saturday March 1. As mentioned previously in this column, the record for the most opponents scored against is held jointly by Frank Lampard and Andrew Cole, who have both scored against 38 of the 46 teams to have played in the Premier League. The only two teams that Cole played against in the Premier League and did not score against are Swindon and Reading. He played against both of those teams twice and did not score. He has never played against Blackpool, Burnley, Cardiff, Hull, Stoke or Swansea in the Premier League. The eight teams Lampard has failed to score against are his current club Chelsea plus Watford, QPR, Cardiff, Burnley, Ipswich, Swindon and Oldham - although he never played against the latter two clubs. He failed to break the record in Chelsea's home game against Cardiff this season and so will have to wait until the final game of the season to get another chance to do so. Here are the players to have scored against the most Premier League teams: 38: Andrew Cole, Frank Lampard 37: Alan Shearer 35: Teddy Sheringham 34: Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Thierry Henry, Michael Owen 33: Robbie Keane, Robbie Fowler, Les Ferdinand, Nicolas Anelka, Wayne Rooney, 32: Emile Heskey, Steven Gerrard, Jermain Defoe, Gabriel Agbonlahor Suarez has scored against 11 different teams already this season alone: Sunderland, Crystal Palace, West Brom, Fulham, Everton, Norwich, West Ham, Tottenham, Cardiff, Hull and Stoke. The only five teams he has faced and failed to score against are Newcastle, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Aston Villa and he has not yet faced Man Utd, Southampton or Swansea. That means the maximum number of teams he can score against is 18 as they have now played Villa twice and he has not scored. If he scores against 18 opponents that would break the record for a 38-game season which is held by Robin van Persie and Ian Wright, who both scored against 17 different opponents for Arsenal in 2011/12 and 1996/97 respectively. Most opponents scored against in a 38-game Premier League season: 17: Robin van Persie (2011/12), Ian Wright (1996/97) 16: Robin van Persie (2012/13), Cristiano Ronaldo (2007/08), Alan Shearer (1996/97) 15: Didier Drogba (2009/10), Fernando Torres (2007/08), Thierry Henry (2002/03 and 2003/04), Alan Shearer (2001/02)

Gaps between games

Dear Martin. Great work on the column every week. It's a must read. I have a tester for you. I read on Twitter that Nemanja Matic had 1,351 days between Premier League appearances for Chelsea. Is this a record? Billy Olivers MARTIN SAYS: You're absolutely right. Nemanja Matic came on as a substitute for Chelsea in the 8-0 win over Wigan on May 9, 2010 and 1,351 days passed before he played again in the Premier League in Sunday's win over Manchester United. However, this is far from being the longest gap in between Premier League appearances. Thanks to our friends at Opta I can tell you that a player has gone more than 4,000 days between Premier League appearances. The man in question is Damien Delaney who played for Crystal Palace in their opening game of the season against Tottenham on 18 August 2013. His previous appearance in the Premier League was an incredible 4,173 days earlier for Leicester City against Southampton on March 16, 2002. That means he went more than 11 years in between Premier League appearances! He had only played eight Premier League games before this season, but is making up for it now having played 21 times for the Eagles this term. Longest gaps between Premier League appearances:
PlayerTeamDays between PL appsReturn date
Damien DelaneyCrystal Palace4,17318/08/2013
Craig FlemingNorwich3,75214/08/2004
Erik NevlandFulham3,66703/02/2008
Paul RachubkaBlackpool3,59822/01/2011
Matt JacksonWigan 3,48627/08/2005
Graham KavanaghWigan 3,42327/08/2005
Gary CaldwellWigan 3,33216/01/2010
Julian SperoniCrystal Palace3,25618/08/2013
Mark HudsonCardiff 3,19026/12/2013
SylvinhoManchester City3,15712/12/2009
Opta have also suggested another way of answering your question. If you want to know the biggest gap between Premier League appearances FOR THE SAME CLUB then that record is held by Joe Cole, who went 3,534 days between appearances for West Ham. He played for the Hammers against Birmingham City on May 11, 2003 and then returned to play for them again just under a decade later against Sunderland on January 12, 2013. Obviously he had made many Premier League appearances for Chelsea and Liverpool in the meantime. Longest gaps between Premier League appearances for the same club:
PlayerTeamDays between PL appsReturn date
Joe ColeWest Ham 353412/01/2013
Pavel SrnicekNewcastle 3,34623/12/2006
Julian SperoniCrystal Palace3,25618/08/2013
Lee ClarkNewcastle 302320/08/2005
Stephane HenchozBlackburn 2,73405/11/2006
Alec ChamberlainWatford2,57013/05/2007
Dougie FreedmanCrystal Palace2,50614/08/2004
Neil ShipperleyCrystal Palace2,44215/01/2005
Adam DruryNorwich 2,41727/12/2011
Tommy SmithWatford2,30909/09/2006

Tottenham's road stars

Dear Martin. I'd like to draw your attention to one of the few bright spots in Tottenham's season so far - their away form. The win against Swansea on Sunday was our fifth in a row away from home and it got me wondering how many more games we need to win to break the record for consecutive away wins? Kind regards, Chris Horner (Tottenham fan) MARTIN SAYS: Tottenham's away form has certainly been impressive of late with consecutive wins at Swansea, Manchester United, Southampton, Sunderland and Fulham - all coming off the back of the 6-0 thrashing at Manchester City. This is the 13th longest run of consecutive away wins in the history of the Premier League and thanks to the boffins at Opta, I have detailed the 12 occasions when sides have won six or more away games back-to-back in the Premier League. Most consecutive away wins in Premier League history: Chelsea: 11 away wins up to 06/12/2008
Chelsea: 9 away wins up to 10/05/2005
Arsenal: 8 away wins up to 08/05/2002
Arsenal: 8 away wins up to 28/09/2013
Aston Villa: 7 away wins up to 07/02/2009
Chelsea: 7 away wins up to 12/09/2009
Man Utd: 7 away wins up to 28/08/1993
Chelsea: 6 away wins up to 03/04/2004
Liverpool: 6 away wins up to 13/04/2002
Man Utd: 6 away wins up to 14/05/2000
Man Utd: 6 away wins up to 10/02/2002
Portsmouth: 6 away wins up to 08/12/2007 As you can see from the list above, Tottenham would need to win their next seven away games (against Hull, Newcastle, Norwich, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Brom and Stoke) to break the record of 11 straight away wins, which was set by Chelsea in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons. Following a 4-4 draw at Tottenham on March 19, 2008 they won the final three away games of that season at Man City (0-2), Everton (0-1) and Newcastle (0-2). Then in the next season they won their first eight away games, conceding only one goal in the process against Wigan (0-1), Man City (1-3), Stoke (0-2), Middlesbrough (0-5), Hull (0-3), Blackburn (0-2), West Brom (0-3) and Bolton (0-2) The run ended when they drew 0-0 at Everton on December 22. No other side in Premier League history has won more than eight away games in a row.

City's speedy century

Dear Martin. Amazingly, Manchester City have scored 100 goals this season and it's still only January. Have we seen any other team score 100 goals so quickly? Ian Moore MARTIN SAYS: Using Opta stats I can tell you that no side has got close to matching Manchester City's goalscoring run of this season during the Premier League era. Manuel Pellegrini's side have needed just 34 games to reach 100 goals - and they have come as follows: 22 Premier League games: 63 goals
6 Champions League games: 18 goals
4 Capital One Cup games: 16 goals
2 FA Cup games: 6 goals
Total: 103 goals in 34 games Scorers: Sergio Aguero (21), Alvaro Negredo (21), Edin Dzeko (16), Yaya Toure (14), Jesus Navas (5), Samir Nasri (5), David Silva (5), Fernandinho (3), Aleksandar Kolarov (3(, Stevan Jovetic (2), Vincent Kompany (2), James Milner (2), Own goals (4) Since 1992, the quickest we have seen a top-flight side reach 100 goals in all competitions is 43 games. Chelsea achieved that feat in both 2009/10 and 2012/13- so Manchester City have done it nine games quicker than any other side in the Premier League era. An astonishing statistic.
TeamSeasonGames to score 100 goals
Man City2013/201434
Chelsea2009/201043
Chelsea2012/201343
Arsenal2009/201045
Arsenal2010/201145
Manchester City2011/201245
Manchester United2011/201245
Manchester United1998/199946
Manchester United2001/200246
Manchester United2009/201046
Manchester United2006/200748
Manchester United2012/201348

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