Wayne's world

Rooney's record, big FA Cup scores and the teams that bounce back... Martin Tyler has it all!

Single-goal winners plus Arsenal and Chelsea's Cup luck...

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is here! Every week he will be here 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. If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email here and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's Starting Stat - Four with no score

I was at Villa Park on Wednesday night to see the fourth league game in a row in which Aston Villa have failed to win - or even score a goal. Before this run they had scored in their previous 17 Premier League matches stretching back to the opening-day 2-0 defeat against Wigan. Their last league goal was scored by john Carew against Stoke on December 19 and this is the first time under Martin O'Neill that Villa have failed to score in four consecutive matches. However, their clean sheet kept them on the equal best defensive record with Chelsea with 18 conceded in the Premier League this season. Villa still haven't beaten Arsenal at home since December 1998 when they came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 thanks to a goal from Julian Joachim and a brace from Dion Dublin. Overall Villa only have one win in the last 23 against Arsenal in Premier League, that came at the Emirates in November 2008 when they won 2-0. Meanwhile, Arsenal took their unbeaten run to 10 Premier League games, in which time they have won seven and drawn three. The 0-0 draw leaves Arsene Wenger waiting for his next win - which will be his 300th in the Premier League and his 450th overall. That makes things interesting with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool coming up in their next three Premier League games.

ROONEY'S RECORD
Hi Martin, love the column! After watching Wayne Rooney score four against Hull last weekend me and my mate tried to think of an English striker in better form than Rooney is during a World Cup year - and couldn't! He must be favourite to win the golden boot this season - but how many more does he need to set a record for top-flight goals scored by an Englishman in a World Cup year? Thanks! Benny MARTIN SAYS: Wayne Rooney is certainly enjoying his role as a front line striker this season. The England and Manchester United forward has hit 19 league goals this season - which is his best ever tally in the Premier League, three more than he got in 2005/06, his second season at United. However, he still has some way to go to match the most league goals scored by an Englishman in the build up to a World Cup. That record is held by Bobby Smith, who netted 36 in 1957/58, before the tournament in Sweden. He is closely followed by Andy Cole who enjoyed an incredible 1993/94 season, bagging 34 goals - but England were absentees from the World Cup in USA that year. Rooney would no doubt love a goal return in South Africa similar to Gary Lineker's in 1986. The then Everton front man lead the league scoring charts with 30 in his only season at Goodison Park before hitting the net six times for England in Mexico. Top-scoring Englishmen in the top flight in a World Cup year:

Year	Player	Team	Goals scored	Goals at World Cup
2006	Darren Bent	Charlton	18	Not selected
2002	Alan Shearer	Newcastle	23	Retired
1998	Michael Owen Dion Dublin Chris Sutton	Liverpool Coventry Blackburn	18	2 Not selected Not selected
1994	Andy Cole	Newcastle	34	Didn't qualify
1990	Gary Lineker	Tottenham	24	4
1986	Gary Lineker	Everton	30	6
1982	Kevin Keegan	Southampton	26	0
1978	Bob Latchford	Everton	30	Didn't qualify
1974	Mick Channon	Southampton	21	Didn't qualify
1970	Jeff Astle	West Brom	25	0
1966	Roger Hunt	Liverpool	30	3
1962	Ray Crawford Derek Kevan	Ipswich Town, West Brom	33	Not selected 2
1958	Bobby Smith	Tottenham	36	0
1954	Jimmy Glazzard	Huddersfield Town	29	Not selected
1950	Dickie Davis	Sunderland	25	0

GUNNERS BACK TO FRONT
Hi Martin. Could you help settle a debate? Arsenal have surprised me this year, my friend reckons it is because of goals from midfield but I believe it is because of an unusual amount of goals from their defence. How many, or what percentage, of their goals this year have been scored by their defence (particularly Gallas and Vermaelen)? I reckon their contribution is higher than that of Arshavin and without those goals their goal difference would be very, very ordinary. Vik Deen (Manchester Utd fan) MARTIN SAYS: Arsenal currently have the highest number of different scorers in the Premier League with 16. The two you mention, Gallas and Vermaelen have contributed eight goals, which is indeed more than the seven contributed by Andrei Arshavin. But it is unfair to say without those goals they would have an 'ordinary' goal difference. Arsenal have scored more goals than any other team this season (59) with a goal difference of 34 - which is the same as Manchester United and three fewer than Chelsea. Without these goals from defence they would have a goal difference of 27, which is still seven goals better off than the goal difference of fourth-placed Tottenham. Arsenal's defence has contributed 13.5%of Arsenal's Premier League goals this season which is quite impressive considering the number they score. As a point of comparison only three of Manchester United's Premier League goals have come from defenders (Nemanaja Vidic, John O'Shea and Rafael Da Silva), which is 6% of their total tally.

LUCK OF THE DRAW
Hi Martin, I've got to say great column, I thoroughly enjoy reading it. I have a question regarding the recent FA cup fifth round draw. Myself being an Arsenal fan and my friend being a Chelsea fan, I can't help but feel aggrieved at the apparently easier ties Chelsea seem to have in the domestic cups (FA and Carling). They constantly get non-Premier League opposition until like the semi finals, when they're forced to play a Premier League team as that is all that's left. Also they seem to play a large proportion of their matches at Stamford Bridge. compare that to Arsenal who this season alone have drawn Liverpool, Man City, West Ham and Stoke all away in the Carling Cup and FA Cup respectively. I was just wondering, in the past five years have Chelsea drawn more non- Premier League sides than Arsenal in the domestic cups, and also do they play a higher percentage of their games at home compared to Arsenal? David Driver (Arsenal fan) MARTIN SAYS: Arsenal have played away ties against Man City, West ham and Stoke this season, but have had home matches against Liverpool and West Brom as well. We have been through the stats for the Cup draws for Arsenal and Chelsea over the past five seasons (including the draw for 2009/10 FA Cup fifth round). In terms of home and away ties we have only included matches up to the semi-final (as League Cup semis are played home and away and FA Cup semis are played at neutral venues). The stats concerning the level of opposition cover all Cup games, including semi-finals and finals. FA CUP:
Chelsea: 13 home ties (68%), 6 away ties (32%)
Arsenal: 7 home ties (50%), 7 away ties (50%)
Chelsea: 13 v lower league teams (59%), 9 v Premier League teams (41%)
Arsenal: 5 v lower league teams (36%), 9 v Premier League teams (64%) LEAGUE CUP
Chelsea: 7 home ties (58%), 5 away ties (42%)

Arsenal: 6 home ties (40%), 9 away ties (60%) Chelsea: 6 v lower league teams (32%), 12 v Premier League teams (68%)
Arsenal: 7 v lower league teams (32%), 15 v Premier League teams (68%) OVERALL
Chelsea: 25 home ties (65%), 11 away ties (35%)
Arsenal: 13 home ties (45%), 16 away ties (55%) Chelsea: 19 v lower league teams (47.5%), 21 v Premier League teams (52.5%)
Arsenal: 12 v lower league teams (33%), 24 v Premier League teams (67%) So the stats do suggest that Chelsea are first out of the hat more often - and that they have played a higher percentage of lower league teams in this period.

SLENDER MARGINS
Dear Martin. Could you tell me which team has won the most Premier League games by a single goal this season? It would be interesting to find out which team has their fans hanging on nervously for the final whistle the most often? Des Lynes (Lancs) MARTIN SAYS: When it comes to winning by a single goal, Birmingham City are the Premier League masters. All of their nine wins this season have been by a single goal - that's far more than any other team. Indeed, six of those nine wins have been by 1-0 scorelines. Furthermore, all of Hull City's four Premier League victories have been by a single goal, while five of Stoke City's six wins this year have also been by a solitary goal. In contrast, only two of Arsenal's 15 Premier League wins have been by a single goal, that's just 13% of their victories.

Team	Total wins	Wins by single goal	%
Birmingham	9	9	100
Hull	4	4	100
Stoke City	6	5	83
Bolton	5	4	80
Wolves	5	4	80
Sunderland	6	4	67
Burnley	5	3	60
Everton	7	3	43
Fulham	7	3	43
Blackburn	7	3	43
Aston Villa	10	4	40
Man City	10	4	40
Liverpool	11	4	36
Tottenham	12	4	33
Wigan	6	2	33
Chelsea	16	5	31
Man Utd	16	4	25
Portsmouth	4	1	25
West Ham	4	1	25
Arsenal	15	2	13

CUP OVERFLOWING
Hi Martin. I was wondering after Wednesday's ten-goal thriller at Villa Park what the highest scoring FA Cup game ever was. We all know that Portsmouth 7 Reading 4 is the highest scoring Premier League game ever, but I bet there have been even larger goal fests in the world's oldest cup competition! Andrew Jarvis (Manchester Utd fan) MARTIN SAYS: The FA Cup has witnessed a 26-goal game, although it was hardly a thriller as Preston North End beat Hyde 26-0 Hyde back in 1887. Preston's Jimmy Ross helped himself to seven goals in that game, while Sam Thomson and Jack Gordon scored five apiece! That game was unsurprisingly the biggest ever home win in the FA Cup and the biggest away win came just four years later when Nottingham Forest won 14-0 at Clapton. The other Nottingham club, Notts County, were once involved in a 12-goal FA Cup thriller, beating Wednesbury Strollers 11-1 in 1881. Opta have given us the highest scoring draws in the competition with several sides sharing 10 goals. They are: Old Etonians 5 Darwen 5 (Feb 1879)
Bolton Wanderers 5 Eagley 5 (Oct 1881)
Leicester City 5 Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Jan 1914)
Luton Town 5 Leicester City 5 (Feb 1949)
Grimsby Town 5 Fulham 5 (Jan 1954) You refer to a semi-final game and the highest scoring semis in FA Cup history are: West Brom 6 Nottingham Forest 2 (1892)
Sheffield Utd 4 Liverpool 4 (1899)
Man Utd 5 Fulham 3 (1958) That last result was particularly remarkable as it saw Manchester United reach the FA Cup final just weeks after the Munich air crash. Seeing as you mention Aston Villa, they were also involved in a high scoring FA Cup semi-final, losing 6-1 to Manchester City in 1934.

COMEBACK KINGS
Hi Martin, As an Arsenal fan, recently I have seen Arsenal come back from losing against Standard Liege, West Ham and now Bolton. I was wondering who has come back from losing to go on and win the game most times this season. Thanks, Beth Donovan MARTIN SAYS: Opta have given us the Premier League stats for your question, Beth, and Arsenal do have a good record for coming back from losing positions. They have gone behind in eight matches this year, but have come back to win three of those games. They have picked up an impressive 10 points from losing positions this year. However, they do not have the best record in the Premier League. Chelsea have won four of the nine games they have gone behind in and drawn two of the others, resulting in 14 points from games in which they were in a losing position. As you can see from the table below, the team with the worst record in this department is now Bolton. They have gone behind in 11 games - and have only picked up one point from a losing position all season. Five other teams - Burnley, Wolves, Stoke, West Ham and Portsmouth - have also failed to win a game after going behind this season: Points gained from losing positions (Premier League 2009/10):

Team	Games	Won	Drew	Lost	Points from behind
Chelsea	9	4	2	3	14
Arsenal	8	3	1	4	10
Blackburn	14	3	1	10	10
Everton	13	1	5	7	8
Man City	9	1	5	3	8
Man U	9	2	2	5	8
Fulham	14	1	4	9	7
Hull	15	1	3	11	6
Aston Villa	8	1	2	5	5
Birmingham City	10	1	2	7	5
Liverpool	10	1	2	7	5
Tottenham	9	1	2	6	5
Burnley	16	0	4	12	4
Sunderland	13	1	1	11	4
Wigan	13	1	1	11	4
West Ham	13	0	3	10	3
Wolves	15	0	3	12	3
Stoke	10	0	2	8	2
Portsmouth	12	0	2	14	2
Bolton	11	0	1	10	1

Tyler's teaser

... and remember. We are looking for two players who have scored in regulation time of Africa Cup of Nations finals. Penalty-shoot-outs don't count! Send in your answers using the feedback form below... and don't forget to keep your questions coming in...