Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is better than ever and will be here all season 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.
If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply Email here and Martin will do his best to answer.
Tyler's starting stat - Flying the flag
I'm going to start with a story this week from my trip to Moscow, where I was one of the many stuck under that giant flag that was unveiled just before the kick-off. We were basically commentating from a stairwell on the opposite side to the rest of the media and myself and David Platt, were surprised to find ourselves, along with thousands of other, under the huge banner. Luckily we still had our monitor to commentate on and we were going to a break anyway, but in 33 years of commentating I've got to say it was the first time I have ever lost sight of the entire pitch! There were no such dramas at West Ham on Super Sunday though, although the home side were still flying their own flag of sorts, by ensuring that only British players have scored for them this season - 15 in all competitions. Welshman Craig Bellamy has four, while the rest have come from Englismen: Dean Ashton (three), Matthew Etherington and Lee Bowyer (two) and Mark Noble and Carlton Cole (one). The Hammers have also been aided by two own goals from England's Luke Young and of course, Scotland's Craig Gordon.
ON YOU MARKS, GET SET, GET SENT OFF
Hi Martin. I'm a big fan of your commentating and facts and stats column. Reading that Vinnie Jones holds the record for the fastest booking was no surprise really (Sharpshooting Cesc, 4th September), but I was wondering who holds the record for the fastest sending off? Is my research right (13 seconds, Kevin Pressman for Sheff Wed, August 2000)? Thanks and looking forward to reading and hearing from you - as always! Sonja, London, Liverpool fan
MARTIN SAYS: Kevin Pressman does indeed hold the domestic record for a player starting a game and getting sent off Sonja, in that game against Wolves you mention, but even that has been beaten on a couple of occasions. The world record for the quickest red card is actually 10 seconds, which was shown to Bologna's Giuseppe Lorenzo for striking an opponent in an Italian League game against Parma in 1990. But even that is some way short of the unwanted record set by Swansea City sub Walter Boyd in November 1999. Boyd was brought off the bench on 83 minutes, but struck an opponent as he ran on to the pitch and was dismissed before the game had restarted, meaning he was officially given his marching orders after 0 seconds! In the past two years we have seen two quick dismissals of subs in the Premier League: Keith Gillespie after just 15 seconds when Sheffield United met Reading last term and this season, the Royals striker Dave Kitson was red carded at Old Trafford, just 37 seconds after coming on against Manchester United.
SCANDINAVIAN SENSATIONS
Hi Martin. After reading your columns the past weeks on most appearances and goals for South American and African players, I have a similar question for Scandinavian players. Which Scandinavian player has most appearances and who has most goals in the Premiership? As a Norwegian, my guess is Henning Berg, Gunnar Halle or Ole Gunnar Solskjær with most appearances, but I believe the honour goes to Peter Schmeichel. Most goals: Ole Gunnar Solskjær? Eirik Albrechtsen, Trondheim
MARTIN SAYS: I had a feeling we might have started a theme with this type of question, but we don't get too many questions in from Norway so I will happily answer yours. By Scandinavians I am going to include players from your native Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, for arguments sake. And whereas with the African imports in our last column there were more attacking players, it would seem the Scandinavian players who last the longest in the Premiership are indeed the ones charged with keeping clean sheets. You were right to pick out Peter Schmeichel with the most appearances and he is one of three keepers in the top 10, along with five defenders, a midfielder and a striker. That striker is top of the Scandinavian goalscorers as well - by some way - and is of course, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with 89. Funnily enough though, only he and Freddie Ljunberg appear among both the leading scorers and appearance makers. Here they are - although I must give a special mention to Sami Hyypia, who despite scoring at the wrong end on Saturday, is just one shy of the top 10 scorers - not bad for a defender. Here are both lists in full...
| GOALS | APPEARANCES | Pos | Player | Number | Pos | Player | Number |
| 1 | Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | 89 | 1 | Peter Schmeichel | 310 |
| 2 | Eidur Gudjohnsen | 54 | 2 | Claus Lundekvam | 290 |
| 3 | Freddie Ljungberg | 46 | 3 | Sami Hyypia | 281 |
| 4 | Tor Andre Flo | 38 | 4 | Henning Berg | 275 |
| 4= | Steffen Iversen | 38 | 5 | Hermann Hreidarsson | 270 |
| 6 | Oyvind Leonhardsen | 30 | 6 | Thomas Sorensen | 265 |
| 7 | Egil Ostenstad | 29 | 7 | Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | 235 |
| 8 | Jonatan Johansson | 27 | 8 | Jussi Jaaskelainen | 232 |
| 9 | Mikael Forssell | 26 | 9 | Freddie Ljungberg | 221 |
| 10 | Jan Aage Fjortoft | 25 | 10 | John Arne Riise | 212 |
ONE-CAP WONDERS
Hi Martin, great column! What I want to know is are there any players who have scored once for England and scored in that one appearance? I can think of one Francis Jeffers against Australia in 2003? Sam Taylor
MARTIN SAYS: Well Sam, you might be surprised to know that it has currently happened 34 times down the years and there have even been five hat-tricks from the one-cap wonders you are talking about. I say currently of course, because Portsmouth's David Nugent of course came off the bench against Andorra to score on his only England appearance so far. He is the only one since Francis Jeffers and indeed one-game one-goal players are not that common in recent times. Those who have done it though, are then West Ham striker Paul Goddard in 1982 (he only actually played 50 minutes) and Danny Wallace, who managed it as a Southampton player in his only cap against Egypt in 1986. The late and great Bill Nicholson's only England cap saw him score in a 5-2 win over Portugal, while Tony Kay - who was part of the famous betting scandal in the 1960s - scored on his only England appearance as an Everton player in 1963. As for the five man to score a hat-trick in their only appearance, it has not happened for almost 100 years, but they should still get a mention. Albert Allen was the first to do it in the 5-1 win over Ireland in 1888; Jack Yates played left wing when he got three in the 6-1 win over the same opposition a year later; Walter Gilliat got his treble in the first half in another 6-1 win against Ireland in 1893; John Veitch of Old Westminsters (And Corinthians) did it in an all-amatuer side that beat Wales 5-1 in 1894, and last but not least, Sheffied Wednesday's Frank Bradshaw scored three times in the 11-1 win over Austria in 1908 - the only time it has happened against European opposition, as it were.
ONE'S ENOUGH
Hi Martin. I am a United fan and am delighted to see that, with eight goals in two games, we are finally taking our chances, after that run of 1-0s. But, with the other lot across the City, doing the same, there seems to be a lot of 1-0 wins this season. Is that the most common result in the Premier League this season? Dean Bildon
MARTIN SAYS: You are right Dean, 1-0 is far and away the most common scoreline in the Premier League this season - there have been 17 single-goal wins for the home sides. Of those, four have gone to Sven Goran Eriksson's Manchester City, but only two to United - although they have won away from home by the same scoreline twice. Reading have also enjoyed two 1-0 wins on their own ground. As well as winning 1-0 though, Manchester City have lost twice by that scoreline on the road, as have Tottenham and Derby.
BEST DEFENCE
Hi Martin, I was reading your answer to Larry Jacob on the English clubs that has scored the most goals in the history of the Premier League and had a conversation with some of the guys in the office as to who has conceded the least. We could not agree and thought you could settle this for us. Mervin, Liverpool fan
MARTIN SAYS: Obviously teams who have spent the least time in the division are technically the ones who have conceded least, like Reading, into their second season and with 69 goals against them. I think the best way to break this down is to assess the seven clubs that have been ever-present in the 15 years since the Premier League began. And, not surprisingly, that leaves Manchester United top of the pile...
| TEAM | GOALS CONCEDED |
| Manchester United | 519 |
| Arsenal | 522 |
| Liverpool | 584 |
| Chelsea | 580 |
| Aston Villa | 685 |
| Everton | 798 |
| Tottenham | 807 |
VOWEL'S ABOUT THAT THEN?
Hello Martin, my friend asked me the other week to name all the players to have scored 50 or more goals in the Premiership whose names end in a vowel. I named about 15 or 16 but there were a few debateable ones. Could you tell me how many there are and who they are, as I might have missed some out? Cheers, Ben Collinson
MARTIN SAYS: What a bizarre challenge your friend has set you Ben. Still, ours is not to reason why and we are happy to help out with the odd daft question, if only to put your mind at rest. There have in fact been 18 players with surnames ending in a vowel to have scored 50 or more Premier League goals. There's not much more I can add to that, other than to list them, so here goes: Andy Cole (187 goals); Dwight Yorke (122); Robbie Keane (95); Mark Viduka (88); James Beattie (82); Nicolas Anelka (80); Tony Cottee (78); Brian Deane (71); Eric Cantona (70); Paolo Di Canio (66); Stan Collymore (62); Gianfranco Zola (59); Jermain Defoe (56); Yakubu (55); Efan Ekoku (52); Louis Saha (51); Kanu (50); Paulo Wanchope (50).
Comments (1)
Laven Pillay (Manchester United fan) says...
Great column. Always wonderful to read your comments. I would firstly like to know how one gets to ask you questions and secondly which strikers (top ten) have the best goal to game time ratio in the Premier League.
Posted 12:34 23rd October 2007