Sky Sports | Football | Columnists | Martin Tyler

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for another season here on skysports.com!

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

It could be on a side in the Premier League or Football League, international scene or European competitions - or it could be about an individual player or manager.

Owen: Seventh on the list

If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply E-mail here and Martin will do his best to answer.

Next week we want your Champions League questions ahead of the big kick-off, live on Sky Sports, on September 18th.

Tyler's Starting Stat

We really should start this week's column by putting England's impressive 3-0 win over Russia in perspective. Wednesday night's visitors to Wembley had not lost in their previous 17 competitive internationals, going way back to October 2004 and a 7-1 defeat to Portugal in a World Cup qualifier in Lisbon. It was only their second defeat in the 12 games under Guus Hiddink as well, the last time a 4-1 friendly defeat to Holland in February. That might well have reminded Hiddink of another 4-1 defeat of course, because he was in charge of his native Netherlands side that were beaten 4-1 by Terry Venables' England in Euro 96. Back to Steve McClaren's side and an indication of just how encouraging the scoreline - and indeed performance - was, Michael Owen's opener was the first goal Russia had conceded in 9hrs and 13mins of the qualifying campaign. You have to go back to October 7 2006 when Israel's Ben Sushan breached their defence in a 1-1 draw. And don't forget, the return game between Russia and England next month, is live on Sky Sports.

England's all-time aces

Martin, I know Michael Owen moved fourth in England's all-time goalscoring charts last night, but I was wondering how the top scorers pan out in terms of goals per game ratio. I have a feeling David Platt might be quite high up the list. Mark McMasters
MARTIN SAYS: Well Mark, it is only right we pay tribute to Owen, whose brace at Wembley took his tally to eight goals in his last 12 England games - although of course that does span some time due to his injuries. Michael is indeed fourth behind Sir Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Jimmy Greaves, but you are right, the goals-per-game ratio does make different reading. You have to have a cut-off point for these Mark, so seeing as you mentioned David Platt, I will take the top 10 all-time England scorers as my colleague here at Sky Sports and in the commentary box on Wednesday night is 10th on the list. David indeed moves up one place in the goals-per-game rankings, while poor Michael drops down to seventh. But it also shows just how prolific VJ Woodward and Steve Bloomer were more than 100 hundred years ago.

PLAYER	CAREER	GOALS	GAME	RATIO
VJ Woodward	1903-11	29	23	1.26
Steve Bloomer	1895-1907	28	23	1.22
Nat Lofthouse	1951-59	30	33	0.91
Jimmy Greaves	1959-67	44	57	0.78
Gary Lineker	1984-92	48	80	0.66
Alan Shearer	1992-2000	30	63	0.48
Michael Owen	1998-present	40	85	0.47
Bobby Charlton	1958-70	49	106	0.46
David Platt	199096	27	62	0.43
Tom Finney	1947-59	30	76	0.39

Auld acquaintances

Martin, I am married to a proud Scotswoman, so as you can imagine, our household is a happy place this morning. But we were wondering, how many times have both nations qualified for major tournaments. I can remember Euro 96 and France 98, but what about before that? Ian MellingMARTIN SAYS: Well Ian, yours must indeed be a happy household following the Wembley win and that wonderful result for Alex McLeish's men in Paris. Hopefully, if both England and Scotland do qualify for Austria and Switzerland next summer, it will be the eighth time the two countries have appeared in the same finals tournament. The 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden featured all four home nations, but there was then a 24-year wait - in which both England and Scotland both failed to make World Cup finals - before they both made the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain. Mexico 1986 featured them both as did Italy in 1990, with the 1992 European Championships in Sweden the first time they both made the continental finals. Of course with England as hosts, the pair were both at Euro 96 on these shores - the only time they have met at a major finals, with England running out 2-0 winners. They both made the World Cup finals in France 1998 but the European Championships in 2000 saw England win that famous two-legged play-off to get there. But since then, the Tartan Army have not had the chance to grace a major finals. As I say Ian, for the sake of harmony in your household and for all our friends north of the border, let's hope they make it next summer.

Menace Healy

Martin, David Healy, if I am right has already scored 12 goals in European Championship qualifiers. I know they play more games these days, but is this some sort of record? Liam Hughes
MARTIN SAYS: Well Liam, David Healy's penalty in the disastrous 2-1 defeat in Iceland, did at least offer a small silver lining for the Fulham striker. It took his tally in qualifying for Euro 2008 to a deadly dozen and equals the previous record. That was held by Croatia's Davor Suker, who scored 12 in 10 appearances to take his side to Euro 96 - although Healy's have come in just nine appearances. Two other players have managed 11 goals in qualifying campaigns: Raul did it for Spain ahead of Euro 2000 and Denmark's Ole Madsen managed it ahead of Euro 64. Healy is Northern Ireland's record goalscorer with 32 goals in 59 games, and has scored nine goals in his last six caps and netted two hat-tricks in this campaign: in the 4-1 win over Liechtenstein in March and the 3-2 home win over Spain a year ago. I am sure everyone will agree it is the sort of individual record that deserves to grace a major final, although barring a miracle, it doesn't look like it will happen for Healy and Northern Ireland now.

The boys from Brazil

Hi Martin. I'm a Kenyan-born Brazilian and I'm wondering who is the highest scoring Brazilian in the Premiership? Eric Wanjama
MARTIN SAYS: Well Eric, as I am sure you know, there have been a number of Brazilians who have plied their trade in the Premier League down the years, ranging from Juninho at Middlesbrough to Manchester City's new recruits Geovanni and Elano, some of them short stays and some of them successful. In terms of goals Eric, the most successful has to be Juninho who, in two spells with Middlesbrough, netted 27 Premier League goals in 125 appearances. The next best is Arsenal's Gilberto Silva, who has scored 16 times for the Gunners in 149 appearances, 10 of them coming last season.

White Hart Pain

I'm a Totenham fan from London, but unfortunetly I've witnessed Spurs lose many times to Arsenal. Although, as far as I'm aware, we are unbeaten at home since losing 5-4. When was the last time Spurs recorded a victory home or away against Arsenal? Tom Walker
MARTIN SAYS: You're right Tom, Spurs have not lost their last three home games against their local rivals since that 5-4 defeat at White Hart Lane, but I'm afraid the other stats don't make very good reading for the white half of north London. You have to go back 18 games for the last Spurs victory: that came in the Premier League meeting at the Lane on November 11, 1999, when goals from Steffen Iversen and Tim Sherwood gave them a 2-1 win, on a day when Freddie Ljunbgerg and their scorer, Patrick Vieira, were both sent off for Arsenal. As for a Tottenham away win in the derby, that last happened way back in the first season of the Premier League. It was the final league game of the season and two goals from John Hendry and one from Teddy Sheringham gave Spurs a 3-1 win.

Heroes and Villans

Martin, I'm a Man City fan and we host Aston Villa at home this weekend. Our start has been positive under Sven this season and I was talking to my mate while watching the England match and despite losing at home to Villa at the back end of last season, I was telling my friend that we usually seem to do well against Villa and I would hazard a guess that they have been one of our 'lucky' PL sides over the years. Can you back me up Martin? John Mares
MARTIN SAYS: I can back you up John, with the help of the ever-reliable Sky Sports Stats department. Flicking through the info for this weekend's Super Sunday clash between the two sides, I can tell you that as a Manchester City fan, you have every right to look forward to facing Villa. Since the Premier League began, City have taken an impressive 36 points off the Villans - their highest against any Premier League opponents. They have played them 10 times at home and City have won six and drawn two, which of course means they have picked up a decent return of 16 points at Villa Park as well. Over the same period of time, they have plundered 28 points from Everton, 26 from Southampton and 23 from West Ham and Newcastle.