Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back to offer you statistical gems to make your day, impress your mates and on occasion, to settle the odd bet!

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.

Shearer: spot-kick king

Whatever you want to know, within reason, why not see if Martin can answer?

If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email here he will do his best to help.

Or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page....

Tyler's starting stat
Pompey make their point

I was at White Hart Lane on Sunday, where Portsmouth deserve a fair amount of credit for recording their first Premier League point in six attempts. Prior to the entertaining 1-1 draw, they had lost all five of their previous visits in the Premier League and you have to go back to the old First Division and April 1988 for their last points at the Lane, when Barry Horne's goal gave them a 1-0 win - although it was not enough to stop them being relegated. David Nugent also scored his first Premier League goal in 19 attempts, a far cry from his England stats, which are one goal in one game when, against Andorra in Barcelona, he 'nicked' a goal off none other than Jermain Defoe! I suppose you could say Jermain exacted some sort of revenge by taking the shine off his strike on Sunday. As for Gareth Bale who, as a former Southampton player would've loved to have got one over on Pompey, the draw stretched his winless run in the Premier League to 21 games, eight of which he has drawn, 13 lost.

UNWANTED HAT-TRICK
I have a question regarding Arsenal/Liverpool. If both teams were to fail to win a trophy at the end of this season then it would represent a three-year period that neither club has won a major trophy. When was the last time this "drought" happened as I think you may have to go back to at least the sixties to find such an event happening? Thanks and Regards, James Bentley, Wakefield
MARTIN SAYS: By 'major trophy' I take that to mean any of the three major domestic competitions (Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup) and the three major European competitions (Champions League/European Cup, UEFA Cup/Fairs Cup and the Cup Winners Cup). If so, then Liverpool and Arsenal have enjoyed a remarkable trophy haul. In fact since 1970, there have only been nine seasons when one of those six trophies hasn't been won by either Liverpool or Arsenal. As you say James, it occurred in the last two seasons and also in the seasons ending in 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1985, 1975 and 1972. To answer your question, the last time we saw a three-year period when neither of these teams won a major trophy was from 1966-67, through 1967-68 up to 1968-69 - a gap in between Liverpool's title triumph of 1966 and Arsenal's Fairs Cup win of 1970.

HARD DUNNE BY
Dear Martin. I can't believe Richard Dunne was sent off again at the weekend. I've lost count of how many times he's had an early bath now - surely he must have seen more red cards than any other player in Premier League history. Can you tell me if that is true? David

BUTT WHAT ABOUT NICKY?
Hi Martin. Frustrated Newcastle fan here. I wasn't too impressed to see Nicky Butt get himself sent off at the weekend and it got me thinking - is he now the most red carded player ever in the Premier League? I can remember him getting sent off for Man United, Birmingham and for us before. There can't be many people who've seen red more than him. Tom Walker, Gateshead
MARTIN SAYS: We've had two emails this so how can I fail to give you the answer? I can tell you that City fan David is correct, Richard Dunne's dismissal against Wigan is the eighth of his career, taking him to joint top of the all-time Premier League red card chart. You may not be surprised to hear that he joins Duncan Ferguson and Patrick Vieira at the top of the standings. Nicky Butt's dismissal was the sixth of his distinguished career taking him to joint seventh in the standings. The all-time Premier League list is as follows:

8 red cards: Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson, Patrick Vieira
7 red cards: Vinnie Jones, Roy Keane, Alan Smith
6 red cards: Nicky Butt, Luis Boa Morte, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, John Hartson, Franck Queudrue
5 red cards: David Batty, Francis Benali, Dion Dublin, Ugo Ehiogu, Steven Gerrard, Don Hutchison, Tugay, Frank Leboeuf, Steve Lomas, Carlton Palmer, Frank Sinclair, Jason Wilcox, Dennis Wise

LOTS OF LOSSES
Martin, we've been having a discussion for the past few days about this and we cant seem to come up with an answer. Would you be able to tell us which club has lost the most Premier League games? I thought it might be Blackburn but there has been a few different answers thrown around! Cheers, Ciaran, Dublin
MARTIN SAYS: This is an interesting question and having gone through the records I can confirm that the team that has lost the most games in Premier League is in fact Everton. They have lost on 248 occasions since the league's inception in 1992-93, just ahead of Tottenham who have lost 243 games in the same period. But we should of course remember that both those sides are among the seven that have been ever-present and played all 16 Premier League seasons. Third on the list is Southampton with 219 and your guess, Blackburn Rovers are actually ninth on the list with 189 defeats, although they spent two seasons outside the Premier League between 1999 and 2001. Even Liverpool make the top 10 with 158 defeats. They, along with Villa are also ever presents, as are Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal.

KEEPING IT CLEAN
Hi Martin, please give us a record of the most consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League. Which team has played the longest number of consecutive games without conceding a goal? I read it's Chelsea on 1,025 minutes but I think Man Utd has closed in. Where do you place Man Utd, since Samir Nasri's goal at The Emirates? CharlesMARTIN SAYS: Well Charles, you are right in a way but I think the important thing to note is that the clean sheet at Bolton on Saturday saw Manchester United equal the Premier League record of 10 successive clean sheets which was set by Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in 2004-05. But if you break it down even further, that Blues side did indeed go 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal in between a Thierry Henry strike on December 12, 2004 at Highbury and a Leon McKenzie goal for Norwich on March 5, 2004. Of course, United's current run also started in an away game at Arsenal, and since Samir Nasri's goal 48 minutes into the defeat at The Emirates on November 8, it has been 942 minutes since Edwin van der Sar was beaten in a league game. So, although they have equalled the 10 games, United need to go 84 minutes without conceding against West Brom next week to actually surpass the Blues defence of four seasons ago.

PENALTY POSER I
Hi Martin, here's a question for you; who would be the all time highest scorer in the Premier League if penalties were "not" included in the equation? Leroy
MARTIN SAYS: Leroy, that is a question I can answer with a little help from the good boffins at Opta, who are always on hand to help us here at skysports.com. You will not be surprised to find that the goalscoring order doesn't change that much and indeed the man with the most Premier League goals to his name, also has the most penalties to his name and tops the chart whichever way you look at it. That man is of course Alan Shearer, who scored 260 Premier League goals and 58 penalties to top of both charts, with or without spot kicks. Second place belongs to a man who only ever took and scored one penalty and on a recent Goals on Sunday appearance, said he preferred to score "proper goals"! That is Andy Cole, who scored 187 goals in all. Third is Thierry Henry, who scored 23 penalties to reduce his tally to 151. Here is a top 10 of the all-time leading scorers excluding penalties and as you can see, one man to join the Premier League's 100 club this season gets in, Wigan's Emile Heskey, who has no penalties to his name! Here is a top 10:

PENALTY POSER II
Hi Martin, as an ever increasingly-worried Newcastle fan, I have noticed that within the vast amount of goals we are conceding this season, so far, we have given away nine penalties. I was just wondering if you could tell me what is the record for penalties awarded to and penalties conceded by a team in a Premier League season? Keep up the good work!Matty, NewcastleMARTIN SAYS: Well Matty I can kind of answer your question with help from Opta, but I have to make it clear that they have only been logging these penalty stats since the turn of the Millennium. But it still does not make good reading for the Toon, I'm afraid. The penalty they conceded against Blackburn on Saturday was the ninth they have given away in the league this season, which is already level with last season's worst offenders, Sunderland. Another two indiscretions in the box and they will also equal the worst since these records began, the 11 given away by the Blackburn side of 2006-07. If you are a Newcastle fan with a decent memory though Matty, you may recall that back in 2000-01 your side conceded the most in an entire season, along with Spurs, but that was a paltry seven.

PENALTY POSER III
Hi Martin, Gareth Barry smashed home another penalty at the Stadium of Light this weekend. I was wondering how he rates in the list of all time Premier League penalty takers in terms of both number of goals from the spot and conversion rate. Keep up the good work! All the best, George
MARTIN SAYS: Well George, even with my trusty helpers here at skysports.com and the boffins at Opta I am afraid it would take far too long to sift through the record books and look at individual conversion rates from 12 yards. But, seeing as we are already on the subject of penalties, I can answer at least the main part of your question. Gareth Barry's penalty against Sunderland was, according to mine and Opta's records, the 21st he has taken in the Premier League and the 17th he has scored. I can find four misses, which is a success rate of around 81 per cent. That kick also took Barry to 10th in the Premier League all-time penalty scoring list, with Frank Lampard (19) the only current player having scored more.

Tyler's teaser

Hi Martin, a friend challenged me to name four different players who have each scored in the Premiership for six different teams. So far I have Nicky Barmby, Andy Cole and (Sir) Les Ferdinand. I can't get the tricky fourth player! I've discounted Ashley Ward, Robbie Blake, Stan Collymore, Craig Bellamy, Dean Windass and Dwight Yorke and I'm running out of ideas! If anyone can answer this, surely it's you! Many thanks, Kevin P SimmondsMARTIN SAYS: Another teaser and again one I will gladly try to answer. I think the answer you're looking for Kevin, is Marcus Bent. The much-travelled striker has netted for Wigan, Charlton, Everton, Leicester, Crystal Palace and Ipswich during his career in the Premier League. Out of interest, Craig Bellamy will also join that list if and when he scores his first goal for new club Manchester City - having already scored Premier League goals for Coventry, Newcastle, Blackburn, Liverpool and West Ham.

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