Blues bonanza

Double hat-tricks, Chelsea's goal records, debut red cards and a new teaser. It's Martin Tyler.

Tyler returns with some opening-day delights

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for the new season. 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 skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's Starting Stat - Reina rues his record

Pepe Reina was a couple of minutes away from recording his first-ever clean sheet against Arsenal, only to become responsible for that not happening. He has now played 12 games against the Gunners with no shutouts, which is surprising for somebody regarded as a king of clean sheets. At the other end David Ngog scored his eighth Premier League goal in 39 Liverpool appearances (many as a substitute, of course), but all eight have come at Anfield. Arsenal have now conceded 50 Premier League goals to Liverpool, more than they've conceded to any other club. Their Premier League record against the Reds now reads: P37 W11 D12 L14, but they are unbeaten in the last seven meetings. Arsenal still haven't lost an opening day game since August 2000, when they were beaten 1-0 at Sunderland and they had Patrick Vieira sent off. Their Premier League opening-day record reads: P19 W12 D4 L3 The game also saw two players sent off on their club debuts for the first time ever in the Premier League (more on that below). Laurent Koscielny's dismissal was the 78th Arsenal red card in Arsene Wenger's 14 years at the helm. They have now matched the one red card they received in the whole of last season - and the same referee was responsible. Martin Atkinson, who sent off Koscielny on Sunday, also dismissed Thomas Vermaelen at West Ham last term.

GUNNER KOP IT?
Hi Martin, I was wanting to know when Liverpool and Arsenal last faced each other as the first match of both their seasons? And who went on to have a better season? Jack Reynolds MARTIN SAYS: I was at Highbury the last time these two met on the opening day of the season. It was the start of the 1987/88 campaign when John Barnes and club record signing Peter Beardsley made their Reds' debuts in a 2-1 win for Liverpool. John Aldridge opened the scoring on nine minutes, but Paul Davis quickly equalised before Steve Nicol scored a remarkable long-range header to win the game with two minutes to go. Liverpool won the league that season with Arsenal finishing sixth. Sunday was the seventh occasion in which Liverpool and Arsenal have met on the opening day of the season. The Gunners have only won once, the very first meeting in 1905, with Liverpool winning the previous four before Sunday's draw. The only previous opening-day draw between the two came in 1911/12. Blackburn Rovers went on to win the league that season. Here are details of Arsenal v Liverpool opening-day games and what happened to the two clubs that season: 1905/06: Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool (Liverpool won the league, Arsenal finished 12th)
1911/12: Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool (Arsenal finished 10th, Liverpool finished 17th, just one point above the relegation zone)
1922/23: Liverpool 5-2 Arsenal (Liverpool won the league, Arsenal finished 11th)
1964/65: Liverpool 3-2 Arsenal (Liverpool finished 7th and won the FA Cup, Arsenal were 13th)
1985/86: Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal (Liverpool won the league and FA Cup double, Arsenal finished 7th)
1987/88: Arsenal 1-2 Liverpool (Liverpool won the league, Arsenal finished 6th)

OFF TO A BAD START
Hi Martin. At Anfield on Sunday I was devastated to see Joe Cole sent off on his Premier League debut for Liverpool. I was wondering is there any other times that a player has been sent off on his Premier League debut for a club? Ben Hayburn (Liverpool) MARTIN SAYS: Well the first to spring to mind is Laurent Koscielny, who was sent of on his Arsenal debut in the same game, Ben! Before that, the most recent was Sunderland's Jack Colback, who was sent off for two bookable offences after coming on as a substitute against Wolves in May, his debut lasting just nine minutes. The boffins at Opta have confirmed 24 players to have been sent off on their Premier League debuts for a particular club. They include my Sky Sports colleague Tony Cottee, who was sent off on his second debut for West Ham against Liverpool in 1994. Red cards on debut in Premier League:

Date	Player	Team	Against
15/08/2010	Joe Cole	Liverpool	Arsenal
15/08/2010	Laurent Koscielny	Arsenal	Liverpool
09/05/2010	Jack Colback	Sunderland	Wolves
04/10/2009	Kagisho Digkacoi	Fulham	West Ham
15/08/2007	Kalifa Cisse	Reading	Chelsea
20/08/2006	Bernardo Corradi	Man City	Chelsea
11/02/2006	Iain Turner	Everton	Blackburn
24/09/2005	Neil Kilkenny	Birmingham	Liverpool
13/08/2005	Darren Ambrose	Charlton	Sunderland
26/12/2004	Christian Negouai	Man City	Everton
23/08/2003	Steven Reid	Blackburn	Bolton
18/08/2002	Aliou Cisse	Birmingham	Arsenal
17/08/2002	Derek McInnes	WBA	Man Utd
15/09/2001	Tomas Repka	West Ham	Middlesbrough
19/08/2000	David Thompson	Coventry	Middlesbrough
15/08/1998	Richard Rufus	Charlton	Newcastle
11/05/1997	Matthew Clarke	Sheff Wed	Liverpool
30/03/1996	Garry Flitcroft	Blackburn	Everton
23/12/1995	Lee Hendrie	Aston Villa	QPR
26/08/1995	Michael Brown	Man City	QPR
01/02/1995	Earl Barrett	Everton	Newcastle
10/09/1994	Tony Cottee	West Ham	Liverpool
10/09/1994	Brian Carey	Leicester	Wimbledon
25/09/1993	Jeroen Boere	West Ham	Newcastle

BACK-TO-BACK BLINDERS
Dear Martin. I'm sure everybody is amazed by Chelsea's incredible goalscoring run. Having scored eight against Wigan and six against West Brom, that's 14 in two games. Has anyone scored that many goals in consecutive Premier League games before? Oliver George (Chelsea fan) MARTIN SAYS: Our friends at Opta have told us that this is a new Premier League record for Chelsea. In fact, Oliver Chelsea are the first team in 101 years to record a +14 goal difference over two top-flight games. They are bettered only by the Nottingham Forest side of 101 years ago; they finished the 1908/09 season with a 12-0 win over Leicester and a 4-1 win over Middlesbrough (a goal difference of +15). The previous Premier League record of goals scored in consecutive games was 13, set by Manchester United in 1997 when they beat Barnsley 7-0 and Sheffield Wednesday 6-1. The next best tally was set earlier this year when Chelsea themselves managed 12 in two games (five against Portsmouth and seven against Aston Villa). Opta have given us a list of 11 occasions when 11 or more goals have been scored in consecutive Premier League games - and you'll notice that of all those occasions Chelsea's 14 is the only example where additionally no goals were conceded: Goals in consecutive Premier League games:

Date achieved	Team	Goals	Results
Aug 14 2010	Chelsea	14	8-0 v Wigan, 6-0 v WBA
Nov 01 1999	Man Utd	13	7-0 v Barnsley, 6-1 v Sheffield Weds
Mar 27 2010	Chelsea	12	5-0 v Portsmouth, 7-1 v Aston Villa
Apr 24 1999	Arsenal	11	5-1 v Wimbledon, 6-1 v Middlesbrough
Apr 20 2008	Aston Villa	11	6-0 v Derby, 5-1 v Birmingham
Apr 11 2010	Man City	11	6-1 v Burnley, 5-1 v Birmingham
Apr 01 2000	Man Utd	11	4-0 v Bradford, 7-1 v West Ham
Apr 10 2000	Man Utd	11	7-1 v West Ham, 4-0 v Sunderland
Mar 19 1994	Newcastle	11	7-1 v Swindon, 4-2 v West Ham
Dec 29 2007	Tottenham	11	5-1 v Fulham, 6-4 v Reading
Nov 22 2009	Tottenham	11	2-0 v Sunderland, 9-1 v Wigan

And remember, Chelsea have now scored 21 goals in their last three home games, but they are away from home this week at Wigan - where of course they lost last year.

DOUBLE TREBLES
Hi Martin, I might be wrong but I think Didier Drogba is the first player to score a hat-trick in two consecutive Premier League games. Scoring them against Wigan in May and last weekend against West Brom. Kieran Murray (Chelsea fan) MARTIN SAYS: I can tell you that you are wrong Kieran. Drogba is in fact the fourth player to score a hat-trick in back-to-back Premier League games. The other three men were: Les Ferdinand - The first man to achieve the feat in the Premier League era was Ferdinand, back in his Queens Park Rangers days. He scored three in a 4-3 win against Nottingham Forest on Easter Saturday in1993 - and then another treble in a 5-3 win at Everton on Easter Monday. Ian Wright - The Arsenal striker scored back-to-back trebles in two consecutive away games for the Gunners in March 1994. He scored three in a 5-1 win at Ipswich on March 5 1994 and then did so again in a 4-0 win at Southampton on March 19. Thierry Henry - The Frenchman scored all three goals in Arsenal's 3-0 win against Portsmouth on March 5 2005 - and then fired three in Arsenal's next Premier League match, a 4-1 win against Norwich on April 2. However, no man has scored a hat-trick of hat-tricks so Drogba could be on for a record against Wigan, live on Sky Sports, this weekend. I can also tell you that Drogba is the seventh player to score a hat-trick on the opening weekend of a Premier League season. The previous ones were: Mick Quinn (Coventry v Arsenal, August 14, 1993)
Matt Le Tissier (Southampton v Nottingham Forest, 1995)
Kevin Campbell (Nottingham Forest v Coventry, 1996)
Fabrizio Ravanelli (Middlesbrough v Liverpool, 1996)
Dion Dublin (Coventry v Chelsea, 1997)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa v Man City, 2008)

QUICK OUT OF THE BLOCKS... OR NOT
Dear Martin. Good to see your column back online. I couldn't help but notice the different results for the promoted teams on Saturday with Blackpool winning 4-0 and West Brom losing 6-0. Has a promoted team ever scored more or conceded more goals in their first game in the Premier League? Andy R. MARTIN SAYS: Blackpool's win at Wigan was not quite the biggest win for a promoted side on the opening day of a Premier League season. Back in 2001, newly-promoted Bolton Wanderers won 5-0 at Leicester City on the opening day. Kevin Nolan and Per Frandsen scored braces with Michael Rickets getting the other. Back in 2000, Charlton Athletic also won 4-0 in their first game against another newly-promoted side, Manchester City. Most goals scored by newly-promoted sides on Premier League opening day: 2001: Leicester 0-5 Bolton
2010:Wigan 0-4 Blackpool
2000:Charlton 4-0 Man City
2006: Reading 3-2 Middlesbrough
2005: West Ham 3-1 Blackburn
1996: Derby 3-3 Leeds
1992: C Palace 3-3 Blackburn Meanwhile, West Brom's 6-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge was the biggest opening day loss in Premier League history for any side, let alone a newly-promoted one. However, they are not the first newly-promoted side to concede six on the opening day. Crystal Palace shipped six at home to Liverpool on the first day of the 1994/95 season, but Chris Armstorng did manage a consolation. Most goals conceded by newly-promoted sides on Premier League opening day: 2010: Chelsea 6-0 West Brom
1994: Crystal Palace 1-6 Liverpool
2003: Blackburn 5-1 Wolves
2000:Charlton 0-4 Man City
1999: Chelsea 4-0 Sunderland I'm sure Newcastle were relieved to get away from Old Trafford without joining this list, conceding only three goals when it could have been many more!

SECONDS OUT
Good day, we all know that Manchester United has won the Premier League more than any other team. Which team has the most second-place finishes in the Premier League and top flight? Douglas Aris, Jamaica, Arsenal Fan. MARTIN SAYS: A very interesting question Douglas, and before Liverpool fans write in to complain, I must point out that United share the record for most English league titles won, but you are correct to say they have won more Premier League titles (11) than any other club. In terms of the Premier League, your club Arsenal has the most runner-up finishes, having done so on five occasions (1998/99, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2004/05): Most second-place finishes in the Premier League:
1. Arsenal (5)
2. Man Utd (4)
3. Chelsea (3)
4. Liverpool, Newcastle (2)
6. Aston Villa, Blackburn (1) However, in terms of the history of the English top flight, Manchester United have finished second more often than any other team. They have finished second on 14 occasions, while Liverpool have been runners-up a dozen times: Most second-place finishes in the English top flight:
1. Manchester United (14)
2. Liverpool (12)
3. Aston Villa (10)
4. Arsenal (8)
5. Everton (7)
6. Preston North End (6)
7. Sunderland, Wolves, Leeds (5)

Tyler's teaser

Fill in your answers to Martin's teaser using the feedback form below - and keep those questions coming in!