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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.
Lampard & Drogba: what record do they hold?
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Tyler's Starting Stat - Plenty Twenty Vision
I was at Wembley to see England's win over Egypt with Peter Crouch's brace making him the 20th man in history to score 20 goals for England. Below is a list of England's "20 goals club" and in brackets how many appearances it took them to reach 20 goals:
Stephen Bloomer (12), Nat Lofthouse (19), Vivian Woodward (19), Stanley Mortensen (19), Tommy Lawton (19), Jimmy Greaves (20), Bobby Charlton (24), Gary Lineker (25), Tom Finney (32), Geoff Hurst (35), Peter Crouch (37), Mick Channon (40), David Platt (42), Alan Shearer (43), Michael Owen (46), Wayne Rooney (49), Kevin Keegan (57), Bryan Robson (60), Martin Peters (67), Frank Lampard (76).
So Crouch is the 11th quickest to 20 goals in England's history and reached that landmark quicker than contemporaries such as Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.
IT TAKES TWO...
Hi Martin. I really enjoy your column and thanks to the guys at Opta for all the interesting stats. My question is who are the leading assist/goal partnership for the season in the league. I think it must be Valencia/Rooney combination that leads the log. Keep up the awesome column. Thanks, Mike, South Africa.
MARTIN SAYS: A good question Mike, and after their combination in the Carling Cup final I'm not surprised you thought the Valencia / Rooney partnership would lead the way. However, based on Premier League games only, they are not quite in front. Rooney has scored four goals from Valencia assists this season, the same number as Jermain Defoe has scored from Aaron Lennon assists. However, the log is led by Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard. Drogba has scored five Premier League goals from Lampard passes and crosses this season. Thanks to Opta for these stats:
| Assist Provider | Goal Scorer | Goals |
| Lampard | Drogba | 5 |
| Lennon | Defoe | 4 |
| Valencia | Rooney | 4 |
| Baines | Cahill | 3 |
| Benayoun | Torres | 3 |
| Drogba | Anelka | 3 |
| Eagles | Fletcher | 3 |
| Fletcher | Rooney | 3 |
| Gerrard | Kuyt | 3 |
| Milner | Agbonlahor | 3 |
| Van Persie | Fabregas | 3 |
| Wright-Phillips | Bellamy | 3 |
| Fabregas | Arshavin | 3 |
HEAD BOYS
Hi Martin, with Wayne Rooney's heading exploits being raved about could you please let us know who the top league goalscorers are via headers in recent years? James Burgess (Manchester Utd fan)
MARTIN SAYS: As mentioned in last week's column, Rooney had only scored four headers in 342 career appearances before his current run of eight headers in nine games. Four of those have come in the Premier League, but he is still not up there with the Premier League's top headed goalscorers.
We asked Opta to list the Premier League's top headed goalscorers from the last five seasons and top of the pile is another player who relies on finding space in the box rather than height to score headed goals. Everton's Tim Cahill has managed 17 headed goals since the start of the 2005/06 season and that puts him just ahead of his taller rivals Peter Crouch and Emmannuel Adebayor.
Headed Goals in PL since 2005/06:
1. Tim Cahill (17)
2. Peter Crouch (16)
3. Emmannuel Adebayor (15)
4. Darren Bent, John Carew, Didier Drogba (13)
7. Kenwyne Jones (12)
8. Kevin Davies, Kevin Doyle, Fernando Torres (11)
11. Gabriel Agbonlahor, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roque Santa Cruz (10)
O'NEILL'S MARCH MARE
Dear Martin. On the way back from Wembley a few Villa mates were feeling pretty depressed after losing to Manchester United (don't get me started on that referee...) Anyway, someone on the train reckoned Martin O'Neill still hasn't won a game in the month of March since joining Villa. That makes me even more depressed about the month of ahead. That can't be right? Can it? Do you have the stats? Chris M (Aston Villa fan)
MARTIN SAYS: Sorry to rub it in Chris, but your friend is correct. Villa have played 12 games under O'Neill in the month of March and he is yet to record his first win. Villa have lost eight of those games and managed just six goals in the process. Their results include a 4-0 drubbing at Manchester United, a 5-0 defeat at Anfield and a 2-2 draw at home to Stoke last season, a game they led 2-0 with two minutes to go. So it's not a case of beware the Ides of March, it's beware the whole of March!
Here are Villa's March results under Martin O'Neill:
March 2007: 03/03/07: Fulham 1-1 Aston Villa
14/03/07: Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal
18/03/07: Aston Villa 0-0 Liverpool
March 2008:
01/03/08: Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa
12/03/09: Aston Villa 1-1 Middlesbrough
15/03/08: Portsmouth 2-0 Aston Villa
22/03/08: Aston Villa 0-1 Sunderland
29/03/08: Man Utd 4-0 Aston Villa
March 2009:
01/03/09: Aston Villa 2-2 Stoke
04/03/09: Man City 2-0 Aston Villa
15/03/09: Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham
22/03/09: Liverpool 5-0 Aston Villa
Overall record: P12 W0 D4 L8 F6 A22 PTS4
Villa's last March win came on March 4 2006 when David O'Leary was in charge of a 1-0 home victory over Portsmouth with Milan Baros scoring the winner. O'Neill will be hoping to end his jinx against Reading in the FA Cup next weekend. Villa also play Stoke, Wigan, Wolves and Chelsea in the Premier League this month.
FALLING FOUL
Hi Martin. Following another terrible injury to an Arsenal player and all the comments going around about teams stopping Arsenal playing by fouling them, although Shawcross' tackle wasn't the worst tackle this season, what I would like to clear up is there any truth to teams fouling Arsenal all the time? Are they the most fouled team in the league? If they aren't who are? Thanks, Marcus
MARTIN SAYS: According to Opta Arsenal are the fourth most fouled team in the Premier League this season. The most fouled team is in fact their near neighbours Tottenham who have had 389 free-kicks given their way for fouls this season. Second and third on the list are Everton and Hull City, the two teams I shall be commentating on in Sky Sports' live game this Sunday.
Interestingly the least fouled team in the top flight is last Saturday's opponents Stoke City, who have been fouled 99 times fewer than Arsenal. Tony Pulis might argue that's because referees don't give them to Stoke City.
Number of fouls against each Premier League team:
1. Tottenham (389)
2. Everton (385)
3. Hull City (384)
4. Arsenal (382)
5. Birmingham (363)
6. Liverpool (362)
7. Manchester City (358)
7. West Ham (358)
9. Fulham (351)
10. Chelsea (349)
11. Blackburn Rovers (338)
12. Manchester United (336)
13. Wigan (327)
14. Burnley (323)
15. Bolton (322)
16. Sunderland (319)
17. Portsmouth (315)
18. Aston Villa (308)
19. Wolves (306)
20. Stoke City (283)
NOT SCORING, NOT SINKING
Hi Martin, I'm a Wolves fan who is fearing the worst this season. We may be out of the bottom three but Portsmouth's 2-1 win over Burnley has just made us the division's lowest goalscorers. So my question is, has a Premier League team ever stayed up and scored less goals than everyone else that season? Fingers crossed the answer is yes! Tim Spiers (Wolves fan)
MARTIN SAYS: The record books do hold some hope for you. In seven different Premier League seasons, the team that has scored the fewest goals has stayed up. In fact, in 1992/93 Arsenal managed just 40 goals in a 42-game season, one fewer then the bottom side Nottingham Forest, and still managed to finish in the top half of the table (they did however, have the second best defensive record behind champions Manchester United).
The other teams to do so were Ipswich in 1993/94, Leeds in 1996/97, Wimbledon in 1997/98, Sunderland in 2001/02, Blackburn in 2004/05 and Stuart Pearce's Man City in 2006/07.
However, the bad news is that in most seasons, the team with the fewest goals ends up getting relegated - and on eight occasions that team has finished rock bottom of the table.
Lowest goalscorers in each Premier League season:
| Season | Lowest goalscorers | Goals scored | Final position |
| 1992/93 | Arsenal | 40 | 10th |
| 1993/94 | Ipswich Town | 35 | 19th |
| 1994/95 | Crystal Palace | 34 | 19th (relegated) |
| 1995/96 | Man City | 33 | 18th (relegated) |
| 1996/97 | Leeds Utd | 28 | 11th |
| 1997/98 | Wimbledon | 34 | 15th |
| 1998/99 | Nottingham Forest | 35 | 20th (relegated) |
| 1999/2000 | Watford | 35 | 20th (relegated) |
| 2000/01 | Bradford | 30 | 20th (relegated) |
| 2001/02 | Sunderland | 29 | 17th |
| 2002/03 | Sunderland | 21 | 20th (relegated) |
| 2003/04 | Wolves | 38 | 20th (relegated) |
| 2004/05 | Blackburn | 32 | 15th |
| 2005/06 | Sunderland | 26 | 20th (relegated) |
| 2006/07 | Man City Watford | 29 29 | 14th 20th (relegated) |
| 2007/08 | Derby | 20 | 20th (relegated) |
| 2008/09 | Middlesbrough | 28 | 19th (relegated) |
DOING THE ULTIMATE DOUBLE?
Hi Martin! With regards to England's prospects at the World Cup and the media questioning burnout of Rooney et al, I was wondering what are the stats regarding players who have won the Champions League in a World Cup year and have gone on to lift the big one in June? Can't be that many, can there? Bharadwaj Ravi (Manchester Utd fan)
MARTIN SAYS: We have been through the records and as far as we can see, there are nine men to have won the World Cup and the European Cup in the same season - and only two in the Champions League era.
The first Champions League / World Cup winner came in 1998 when Christian Karembeu helped Real Madrid beat Juventus to win the Champions League before playing in the final for victorious France World Cup team later that summer.
The most recent man to do so was another Real Madrid player, Roberto Carlos who played in the Spanish club's Champions League win against Bayer Leverkusen before winning the World Cup with Brazil in 2002.
If you go back a little bit further in time, then seven men completed the World Cup / European Cup double in 1974. Bayern Munich players Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Uli Hoeneß and Jupp Kapellmann all won the European Cup with their club before winning the World Cup with West Germany.
Tyler's teaser
Fill in your answers to Martin's teaser using the feedback form below - and keep those questions coming in!
Comments (88)
Shakir Yassin (Manchester United fan) says...
Hi Martin.I and my friends are big fans of your column.I recently had an argument with a friend of mine who is a Liverpool fan and after they lost 1-0 to Wigan on Monday night, he told me that Rafa Benitez has never won a Premier League match that was played on a Monday night.I find this stat interesting but I don't agree with my friend.Could you help us out.Thanks
Posted 06:53 9th March 2010
Nikhil George (Manchester United fan) says...
Hi Martin, It's great to see Portsmouth doing well in the FA Cup with all the difficulties they are going through. I would like to know how many teams have won the FA Cup and been relegated during the same season. (ie if Portsmouth do get relegated and win the FA Cup) Would they be the first? Nikhil George
Posted 21:25 8th March 2010
Dylan K (Manchester United fan) says...
For the 1st time in years half of the premier league managers have not yet been sacked. Think only Gary Megson has been given the boot. What is the highest and lowest amount of managers sacked in the premier league since it began. Thanks Dylan
Posted 13:46 8th March 2010
Ayan Ahmed (Chelsea fan) says...
Mr Tyler, I wonder if the guys at Opta have this stat. I noticed that both John Terry and Frank Lampard scored deflected goals in the FA cup tie against Stoke on the weekend. I am constantly berated by my friends that Lampard only scores from distance with deflections. I know that he has scored 120 goals in the premiership, but how many of these are deflected?
Posted 11:54 8th March 2010
Mr Shakey (Arsenal fan) says...
@ A Nawaz - Pirlo and Gattuso won the European Cup with Milan in 2007, a year after winning the World Cup. Surely being a fellow Arsenal fan you should remember that Barcelona won it in 2006, robbing us with an offside goal and a lucky near post effort. Perhaps i'm just still bitter.
Posted 10:15 8th March 2010
Adam Gorey (Manchester United fan) says...
David Speedie with the hat trick Mick McCarthy (wolves) is currently a Premiership manager Paul simpson is the manager of league 2 club shrewsbury. good question!
Posted 20:28 7th March 2010
Manyoo Chelski (Arsenal fan) says...
lol......wengers a whiner??? I believe he has the right to tell everyone 'I told you so' after ramsey's sad injury!! I would love to see chelsea and manu fans' reactions if it happened to rooney or lampard......the managers, fans everyone would complain! Because its Arsenal, and everyone is now used to seeing Arsenal get bashed around and injured, its becoming acceptable.....and that is not right or fair, and Arsene is making a very valid point!!!! Also, can all these foolish pundits and fans stop twisting wengers words, as it is OBVIOUS that all teams play abit rough against arsenal because it works!! All wenger was saying is if that keeps happening, then Ramsey's injury is an inevitable consequence!! He never said teams are out to injure or deliberately want to foul Arsenal players intentionally, its a result of all the constant roughing up!! So drop this stupid notion of shawcross' challenge being intentional, I blame pulis!! OH..I now hear that the pitch at wembley destroyed owen and rooney.......and noone says nothing to fergie!! Isnt that just typical? You fans need to think before you post ridiculous comments on websites! You twist managers' comments for your own liking!
Posted 10:32 7th March 2010
Will Hill (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
Hi Martin, Great column, as ever! I was just wondering, as an avid Spurs fan, it seems 'Deadly' Ledley King is going to finish his career with us but just how beneficial is it for us to have him in the team? His talents are unquestionable but his fitness is such an issue I was wondering if we win more games with him playing or concede less goals? Thanks, Will
Posted 01:13 7th March 2010
Pete Whiting (Birmingham City fan) says...
Hi Martin, following Birmingham's disallowed FA cup goal against Portsmouth it reminded me of the disallowed goal we had against Chelsea earlier this season. I wondered if you could tell me who has had the most goals incorrectly disallowed this season and if the goals had stood how the table would look?
Posted 14:38 6th March 2010
Andy C (Bolton Wanderers fan) says...
wait a minute arsenal fans i seem so remember an ex arsenal player saying a certain tackle by gallas (stoods to the knee of a standing leg) against bolton was one of the worse he's seen arsenal go and play in spain if you dont like proper football!!!!
Posted 14:21 6th March 2010
David Obika (Arsenal fan) says...
I am an Arsenal Fan. And i have to admit that some of the comments made by other football fans is true. Arsene Wenger does complain alot, but he is trying to protect his players. But i do have to agree that when our players make a bad foul or tackle, then he has to be equally criticlal, and not try to justify it or pretend that he did not see it. That will make him a hypocrite, and he is too good for that. That said, something does have to be done, when teams openly admit that they will just have to kick arsenal, to win the game. In honesty, i think that is where the frustration comes from. Nobody seems to care about such statements. and then we get accussed of being lightweight. In the days of patrick viera and keown, yes we were more of a physical team, and we dished out quite a bit of rough. We got slaughtered for that, and since then we have changed our approach. and play much more attractive football. In those days, i really cannot remember any of our players, talking before a match about kicking the other team, because it then gives the impression, that it is planned, its part of the team talk. Football is a contact sport and it always will be, so frankly i do not have a solution. However, when a player gets his legs broken from a tackle, then surely it is time for the issue to be addressed, Not just for arsenal sake but all teams. Or will this just be seen as playing into arsenals hands, or better still to stop wenger whinging.
Posted 12:42 6th March 2010
Chris Adams (Stoke City fan) says...
wenger wasnt complainin bout dirty players when he had the excelent patrick viera and petit in his teams that actually won silverware maybe he should stop complainin about shawcross and sort out bringin some backbone back into his team
Posted 11:08 6th March 2010
Warren Francey (Blackburn Rovers fan) says...
Hi Martin! Great Column, am an avid reader! I'd just like to see if you can help me with this one as I can't find the stats anywhere myself. In the wake of Rafa Benitez's outburst that Blackburn play a 'Long Ball' game, can you dig up some facts on who has actually played the most amount of long balls this season and how Liverpool themselves compare?! Thanks
Posted 23:16 5th March 2010
David Gater (Stoke City fan) says...
To the Arsenal fan who quoted Leon Cort - (Burnley Player 4th March 2010) - "We are going to go there and still throw tackles" Enough said. You really do need to get over your paranoia. Leon Cort hasn't made a tackle in about 5 years! He was booked in September 2009 (for deliberate handball), which was his first yellow card since 17/04/2004 (almost 200 games ago). If Arsenal have any players who can match that record it would be as amazing as if Mr Wenger ever admitted that he saw an Arsenal player break any of The Laws of the Game. Leon Cort couldn't bully the 3 year old lad next door.
Posted 19:16 5th March 2010
Oliver Wright (Arsenal fan) says...
The truth we all know and so many are unwilling to acknowledge is that Arsenal are always one of the least fouling teams and always one of the most fouled teams in the Premier League. No amount of fudge can hide this fact. The pundits have to stop trying to have it both ways. You've all half a billion times said "you have to stop Arsenal from playing" and "Arsenal don't like it up them", "teams rough up Arsenal and they can't deal with it". It's either true or not. If Arsenal are roughed up, then you can't simultaneously run away from the fact that they suffer more agricultural tackles than most. Man United is a team similar in size (height and weight) to Arsenal. Martin Tyler's stats will back that up, and nobody tries to rough them up. The story that you can rough up Arsenal started around 2002 when they had a right old bunch of bruisers in their squad. It is not about size. 5 Arsenal players have suffered impact injuries, in tackles from opposing players this season. It's not just the 3 horrendous leg breaks in 4 years, it's a whole lot of terrible injuries occurring in the last few seasons. One of those was a disgusting off-the-pitch tackle by Ryan Shawcross on Adebayor last season. When Wenger pointed out the shameful cowardice of making such a tackle off the pitch he was shouted down by the usual suspects.
Posted 17:32 5th March 2010
Dr. ahmad Bashter (Aston Villa fan) says...
Quiz answer: David Speedie (Chelsea player) is the hatrick scorer. Mick McCarthy (City player) is the PL manager (Wolves). Paul Simpson (City player) is the league two manager (Shrewsbury Town).
Posted 15:37 5th March 2010
Thierry Henry (Arsenal fan) says...
I have been told I would be a good basketball player, should I quit Barcelona for LA Lakers?
Posted 15:12 5th March 2010
Rimantas Petrauskas (Chelsea fan) says...
Hello Martin. I wonder whether there has been any player in history of Premier League who changed the clubs (coming into Premier league from another country or vice versa) in January transfer window, made enough appearances for both of those teams to win a medal and both of his teams finished top of the table at the end of the season hence making a man champion of two leagues in one season. Thank You.
Posted 14:59 5th March 2010
Chris H (Torquay United fan) says...
The answer to the teaser is: David Speedie - hat trick Mick McCarthy - premier league manager Paul Simpson - league two manager
Posted 14:15 5th March 2010
Michelle Ruiz (Arsenal fan) says...
To All the United and Chelsea fans who think they are correct because the use exclamation marks, understand this.. FACT in the last 5 Years Arsenal have had 3 Serious Season Ending injuries.. look at those players how can u suggest Diaby is Lightweight, eduardo is no more lightweight than Park, Owen, Joe Cole or Deco but when hav they been rushed to the hospital for bad challenges recently. Players and managers openly admit to being aggresive with arsenal.. accept it.. you are only willing to ignore these facts because your teams benefit from the ignorance and hypocrasy in this media and leauge.. if rooney suffers a similar injury no doubt the offender will be crucified!
Posted 13:45 5th March 2010
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