Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back to offer you statistical gems to make your day and impress your mates.
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.
Or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page....
Tyler's starting stat
Double dutch
Well I was at Stamford Bridge with the Super Sunday team to see Robin Van Persie turn the game on its head and break his duck against Chelsea. Those two goals were the Dutchman's first against the Blues in all competitions, although surprisingly it was only his third start, along with six substitute's appearances. What those goals did do as well were see Chelsea lose a game in which they had scored first for the first time since November 2006, when Claude Makelele - of all people - put them 1-0 up only for goals from Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon to make it 2-1 to Spurs. And of course, as you probably heard and perhaps knew, that was the first time Chelsea had scored first at home and lost in four years and nine months since Edu and Patrick Vieira overturned Eidur Gudjohnsen's goal to give Arsenal a 2-1 win. That game did of course, spark that 86-game unbeaten run that was only ended by Liverpool this season.
RIGHT TO HAVE THE BLUES?
I'm worried that Chelsea have blown their title chances and it's not even Christmas yet. We've played our three biggest rivals in Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and we haven't won a game. One draw from those three matches could really cost us by the end of the season. Martin, please can you tell me if a team has ever won the league without beating any of the other top four teams at home? Stu, London
MARTIN SAYS: Well Stu I've looked through the records and the answer to your question is no. A side has never won the league without beating at least one of their nearest rivals at home. The worst return from the champions from their home games against the three sides immediately below them is four points - which is what Manchester United got in the 2006-07 season and what Arsenal picked up in 2001-02. That means Chelsea's return of one point from those three games would set a record IF they win the league and IF Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal finish in the top four. In 11 of the 16 Premier League seasons, the champions have remained undefeated at home to the teams finishing in second, third and fourth but only on three occasions have the champions enjoyed a maximum return from those fixtures - Manchester United last season and in 2002-03 plus Chelsea under Jose Mourinho in 2005-06. Of course it is worth pointing out that Aston Villa also look like being in the hunt for that top-four finish this season and the Blues did beat them 2-0 earlier this season. Here is a table detailing the champions home results against the teams that eventually finished second, third and fourth:
| Season | Champions | Result v 2nd | Result v 3rd | Result v 4th | Points |
| 2007-08 | Man Utd | Beat Chelsea 2-0 | Beat Arsenal 2-1 | Beat Liverpool 3-0 | 9 |
| 2006-07 | Man Utd | Drew Chelsea 1-1 | Beat Liverpool 2-0 | Lost Arsenal 1-0 | 4 |
| 2005-06 | Chelsea | Beat Man Utd 3-0 | Beat Liverpool 2-0 | Beat Arsenal 1-0 | 9 |
| 2004-05 | Chelsea | Drew Arsenal 0-0 | Beat Man Utd 1-0 | Beat Everton 1-0 | 7 |
| 2003-04 | Arsenal | Beat Chelsea 2-1 | Drew Man Utd 1-1 | Beat Liverpool 4-2 | 7 |
| 2002-03 | Man Utd | Beat Arsenal 2-0 | Beat Newcastle 5-3 | Beat Chelsea 2-1 | 9 |
| 2001-02 | Arsenal | Drew Liverpool 1-1 | Beat Man Utd 3-1 | Lost Newcastle 3-1 | 4 |
| 2000-01 | Man Utd | Beat Arsenal 6-1 | Lost Liverpool 1-0 | Beat Leeds 3-0 | 6 |
| 1999-00 | Man Utd | Drew Arsenal 1-1 | Beat Leeds 2-0 | Drew Liverpool 1-1 | 5 |
| 1998-99 | Man Utd | Drew Arsenal 1-1 | Drew Chelsea 1-1 | Beat Leeds 3-2 | 5 |
| 1997-98 | Arsenal | Beat Man Utd 3-2 | Lost Liverpool 1-0 | Beat Chelsea 2-0 | 6 |
| 1996-97 | Man Utd | Drew Newcastle 0-0 | Beat Arsenal 1-0 | Beat Liverpool 1-0 | 7 |
| 1995-96 | Man Utd | Beat Newcastle 2-0 | Drew Liverpool 2-2 | Drew Aston Villa 0-0 | 5 |
| 1994-95 | Blackburn | Lost Man Utd 4-2 | Beat Forest 3-0 | Beat Liverpool 3-2 | 6 |
| 1993-94 | Man Utd | Drew Blackburn 1-1 | Drew Newcastle 1-1 | Beat Arsenal 1-0 | 5 |
| 1992-93 | Man Utd | Drew Aston Villa 1-1 | Beat Norwich 1-0 | Beat Blackburn 3-1 | 7 |
WINNING FOUR-MULA
Hi Martin. I'm still smarting from our derby defeat to United at the weekend. We've now played all of the "big four" and have picked up three points. I was wondering how this compares with the other teams in the league. Could you provide a league table for the "other" 16 teams to show their record against the Big Four so far this season. I reckon Aston Villa would be top. Cheers, Dave Armstrong, Man City fanMARTIN SAYS: My back-up team of helpers at skysports.com have compiled a league table for games against the big four and in fact, Aston Villa do not finish in top spot. It may come as a surprise to learn that Tottenham have the best record against the top four so far this season following their victory over Liverpool and their draws with Arsenal and Chelsea. A mention must also go to Fulham who are third in our league table, even though they have only played two of the big four. Their win against Arsenal and draw at Anfield means, like Tottenham, Roy Hodgson's men are currently unbeaten against the top four sides so far. The team with the worst record is West Brom who have played all of the big four and have lost all four meetings, failing to score a single goal and conceding 11 in the process. The full table is below:
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Tottenham | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| Aston Villa | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Fulham | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Stoke | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4 |
| Man City | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| Hull | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| Newcastle | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Everton | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| West Ham | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Sunderland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Wigan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Middlesbrough | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Bolton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Portsmouth | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Blackburn | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| West Brom | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
As a Spurs fan it's good to see Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko starting to find the net. I'd love to see their records this season comapred to our other strikers - especially Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, but also Jermain Defoe and Mido. I bet our strikers have a better goals record. Stan McGuinness
MARTIN SAYS: I've compiled the stats and the news is good for Darren Bent. Of the players you've mentioned, he has the most league goals (joint with Jermain Defoe), the most goals overall and the best goals per game ratio in all competitions so far this season. As for Roman Pavlyuchenko, he has scored fewer goals that Defoe but has a better goals per game record - although his goals ratio is not as good as that of Mido so far this season.The news is much less pleasing for Robbie Keane. The Liverpool man has scored the fewest league goals, the fewest goals overall and has the worst goals per game record by far out of those six players. Here are the stats in full: | Player | League | Other | Total | Games | Goals per game |
| Robbie Keane | 2 | 2 | 4 | 22 | 0.18 |
| Dimitar Berbatov | 2 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 0.40 |
| Jermain Defoe | 7 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 0.44 |
| Roman Pavlyuchenko | 3 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 0.46 |
| Mido | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 0.50 |
| Darren Bent | 7 | 4 | 11 | 21 | 0.52 |
NO VILLA THRILLER
I was at Villa Park on Saturday to see my team Aston Villa draw 0-0 with Fulham, a week after we drew 0-0 against Manchester United. It got me wondering, when was the last time Aston Villa drew two Premier League games in a row 0-0? We've got Everton coming up on Sunday and with their striker crisis and their strong defence I wouldn't be surprised if it was three in a row. Has that ever happened before in the Premier League? Miles StevensMARTIN SAYS: Goalless draws are becoming a much more regular occurrence for Aston Villa fans, Miles. Last season none of Villa's home games ended 0-0 - the only stalemate for Martin O'Neill's men in the Premier League was away at Newcastle in their second game of the season. However, this year half of Villa's eight home league games have finished goalless, the matches against Liverpool and Portsmouth plus the ones you mention against Manchester United and Fulham. The last time Villa drew two consecutive league games 0-0 was more than four years ago in September 2004 when Chelsea and Norwich visited Villa Park in consecutive weeks and played out stalemates. In the history of the Premier League, Aston Villa have never drawn three league games in a row 0-0, which is good news for Sky Sports viewers as their trip to Everton is live on Sunday afternoon. Villa v Everton is the most played fixture in league football history and of their 32 meetings in the Premier League era, only six have finished 0-0 so let's hope you see some goals at the weekend. Also, I am on my way to Craven Cottage this Saturday to commentate on a Fulham side that could also make it three in a row take on Manchester City. I think you'll agree we've all had enough goalless games this season!
BRAD ALL OVER
Dear Martin. I'd like to congratulate Brad Friedel for breaking the Premier League record for consecutive appearances. What I'd like to know is what was the last game he missed? And how many clean sheets he has kept during that run? Thanks, Austin Maynard
MARTIN SAYS: The stats on Brad Friedel make impressive reading. The American has now played 167 Premier League games in a row and his appearance for Aston Villa against Fulham at the weekend surpassed the record of 166 set by David James. Out of interest, the Premier League record for consecutive appearances for an outfield player is held by Frank Lampard at 164. Friedel joined Blackburn in November 2000 and the club played 293 league games while he was there. Friedel featured in 286 of them, missing just seven matches in seven-and-a-half seasons. In that time he started 152 consecutive league games, although he did come off at half-time against Wigan last season. He has since made 15 consecutive starts for Aston Villa to take his grand total up to 167. To answer your questions Austin, he kept 53 clean sheets in that 167-game run. That includes 47 for Blackburn - including an impressive 16 shutouts in the 2005-06 season - as well as his six Premier League clean sheets so far for Aston Villa. The last time he missed a league game was on May 15 2004 - the last day of the 2003-04 season - when Blackburn Rovers drew 1-1 with Birmingham and Peter Enkelman was handed a starting berth. But I do think Brad's success is one for perseverance because he struggled to get a work permit when he first tried to break into English football, 'trying out' - as the Americans say - with Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Sunderland before eventually going to Galatasaray, who were managed by a certain Graeme Souness at the time.
DOUBLE TREBLES
Hi Martin, this is definitely the best column on the Sky Sports website (favourite stat so far is the one about Gareth Bale!). I was thinking back to the Blackburn v Wigan game last year where Roque Santa Cruz and Marcus Bent both scored hat-tricks and it got me thinking; I just wanted to know which other games feature two players scoring hat-tricks an indeed if there had been a game where three or more players had scored hat-trick? Jonny Beesley
MARTIN SAYS: Well Jonny, thanks for the kind words! I have answered this question before, but will gladly do it again. I can confirm that it was indeed the first time in Premier League history that players on opposing teams have netted a hat-trick. In fact since the league's inception in 1992 it was also only the second time that we have seen two hat-tricks in the same game, the last being in May 2003 when Jermaine Pennant and Robert Pires both scored three in Arsenal's 6-1 win over Southampton. On a personal note, I was actually commentating on the game the last time we saw three hat-tricks in a game in England, which happened in November 1987 when Manchester City beat Huddersfield Town 10-1 in the old Second Division. Tony Adcock, David White and Paul Stewart were the three City players left arguing over the match ball!
Comments (18)
Jonathan Woods (Arsenal fan) says...
Martin i was wondering is there any team in the premership that has met an opposing team on more than five occasions and have still failed to score a goal. I reckon a few teams may have failed to score against Chelsea. Also i saw the interesting Gareth Bale stat and was wondering which player when playing in matches gives Arsenal the worst wining percentage?
Posted 15:07 4th December 2008
Homzie D (Manchester United fan) says...
Hi Martin, really love your columns. Keep it up, Sir!!! Just 2 queries, please. Last season, only Ronaldo and Nani got sent off for Utd and Utd won the title. I think in 2006/07, only Scholes was red carded at Anfield, which got me thinking, which team holds the record for the least red cards in the season they become Prem champions? I was wondering whether any team has had no red cards and conceeded no penalty and become champions? Another query, please!!! When was the last time, Utd were held goalless in 2 consecutive matches before the 2 "Villas", Aston Villa and Villarreal? Thank you, Sir. Cheers!! I know I can count on you, Sir
Posted 14:47 4th December 2008
Andrew Whittle (Manchester United fan) says...
Hi Jim, great column. To avoid severe frostbite during last night's match at Old Trafford, i was wondering if there has ever been a smaller set of defenders than those that finished the last 20 minutes last night? Rafael da Silva, Gary Neville and Patrice Evra are pretty small, although Jonny Evans appears above the 6 foot mark.
Posted 13:20 4th December 2008
Jude Judex (Chelsea fan) says...
Hi Martin, I really wont to know the impact of the ex-chelsea coach the special one in the English premiership?
Posted 13:04 4th December 2008
Marticus S (Liverpool fan) says...
I would just like to say, in regard to all those who have recently said Liverpool's title bid won't last when they only get draws against Fulham, Stoke and West Ham, I totally agree that Liverpool should have had better results in these games BUT am completely pleased by the fact Liverpool haven't hit anywhere near top gear yet this season and with their recent bad form still sit top of the table. As a Liverpool fan I am not going to say we are going to win the title, but we are keeping ourselves in with a really good chance. Maybe you can answer this Martin. Is it right that in recent seasons Liverpool have been among the top performers in the Premier League after the Christmas period? I think they may have been which gives me more hope for at least a realistic challenge this season.
Posted 12:57 4th December 2008
Dean Jones (Liverpool fan) says...
just to point out that if liverpool won the league gerrard carragher and hyypia would have a complete set!! giggs and scholes havent won the uefa cup whereas we have !! apart from the world cup and the euro's its a complete set!
Posted 12:11 4th December 2008
Mike Norris (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
For Darren Evans' question - everyone has mentioned the Utd players but Arsenal won a domestic cup double under George Graham in 93 I think - a number of those players went on to win the prem under Wenger including most of the back 4 and Ian Wright so most of them will have won all 3
Posted 11:59 4th December 2008
I Folgore (Liverpool fan) says...
Hey martin, your column is amazing, I never fail to read it every week! Well, anyways, looking at this season so far, I'm pretty sure that it's gonna be a very tight title race between the top 3. However, my question for you is in which season was the champions' status secured the earliest? And which team was it? Thanks again! You'll Never Walk Alone!!
Posted 04:34 4th December 2008
Carl Bryant (Manchester United fan) says...
This for darren evans, of course theres been players that have a full domestic set! Ryan giggs,Gary neville,paul scholes, i dnt really need to name any more! United! united! united!
Posted 02:10 4th December 2008
Cameron Smith (Manchester United fan) says...
Danny Evans - I know a few who have won all the domestic collection being at one club since the premiership started.....Ryan Giggs,Gary Neville,Paul Scholes,David Beckham before he left, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville.....i think i am right in saying this. Hope that answers your question.
Posted 21:43 3rd December 2008
Raphael Levy (Manchester United fan) says...
Sorry Martin, i know it is your job to answer questions but in answer to darren: Ryan Giggs having won numerous Doubles and a treble at United with a carling cup coming in 2006 would fit your quota. Ramon, I believe the club you are think of is Arsenal!
Posted 19:05 3rd December 2008
Mike Smith (Manchester United fan) says...
Hi Martin, love your column, after looking back at some of Ronaldos goals, i've noticed he does score a fair few free kicks which got me thinking, what players, since the Premier League started, are the most prolific and consistent free kick scorers?
Posted 15:25 3rd December 2008
Gordon Lau (Chelsea fan) says...
Chelsea was doing very well in the beginning; but i'm afraid that they have slipped up in their form. It seems like Chelsea is in for a very long cold streak... and i agree, it is most unlikely to win the Premier League if Chelsea stays on this form and doesn't even beat one of the big four. But i predict that Chelsea will somehow bounce back and take the cup home. Go CHELSEA!!!
Posted 14:49 3rd December 2008
David Schapkaitz (Liverpool fan) says...
Hi Martin, I think Rafa is not giving Robbie Keane enough game time to prove his worth and goal scroing capability. I'd be interested to see a table, split into 30 minute intervals,showing his number of premier league goals scored at these 3 intervals. I'm hoping most of his goal contribution comes in the last third - supporting my belief he should play the full 90 minutes. Thanks, David
Posted 14:33 3rd December 2008
Jase Williams (Aston Villa fan) says...
Hi martin, love reading you column ! I am writing to ask, in the history of the premier league has there ever been any premier league side which has fielded a team with only all united kingdom nationals. including Ireland, Scotland, Wales,to add was it not Chelsea the first to fielded starting 11 team with none English born player?
Posted 13:53 3rd December 2008
Ahmed Rashid (Liverpool fan) says...
So far this season Chelsea are the highest scorers and have conceded the least number of goals. Has it ever happened in the Premier League history that a team did not become champions but had a combination of scoring the highest number of goals and conceded the least in any particular season?.
Posted 13:26 3rd December 2008
Ramon Smith (Arsenal fan) says...
Hi Martin,my friend and I were chatting the other week, and we could not confirm which is the only team that has never been relegated from the first division and or the premier league. Ramon
Posted 10:52 3rd December 2008
Darren Evans (Liverpool fan) says...
If Liverpool were to win the Premier League this season, it would mean Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher would complete their domestic medal collections. Have any other players ever completed the full set, whilst only playing for a single club since the Premier League started?
Posted 10:35 3rd December 2008