Next goal wins!

How would the Premier League look if games ended after the first goal? Martin Tyler has that and more...

Can you answer Tyler's teaser this week?

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 skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's Starting Stat - Fulham's home comforts

I was at Craven Cottage on Wednesday to see Fulham's fifth consecutive home win in all competitions and their third in the Premier League. They'd won 3-0 against West Brom, then 2-0 against Stoke so perhaps we should have guessed the score would be 1-0. This was the first time in 10 Premier League games this season when Fulham had been level at half-time and gone on to win. On the other nine occasions they'd drawn five and lost four, so Mark Hughes will have been relieved to see Damien Duff's winner in the second half. That was Duff's fourth goal against Newcastle and his first since leaving the club. He had previously scored against them twice for Chelsea and once for Blackburn. That goal inflicted Newcastle's first Premier League defeat of 2011. Of course, they had lost at Stevenage in the FA Cup and now they've lost at the ground next to Stevenage Road!

SEEING RED
Dear Martin. After Luis Suarez signed for Liverpool my mind cast back to his famous red card against Ghana at the World Cup and it got me wondering. Could he become the first player to get sent off in the Premier League and the World Cup? Lawrence, (Ipswich fan) MARTIN SAYS: In fact, Suarez would be far from the first. We have seen 11 players sent off in both the Premier League and the World Cup in the past. The first was former Arsenal midfielder Stefan Schwarz, who saw red against Spurs in the Premier League in 1995 and also for Sweden at the World Cup in 1994. I have detailed the 11 below, including three current Premier League players Tim Cahill, Brett Emerton and Wayne Rooney. Let's hope Suarez doesn't end up joining this list! Tim Cahill for Everton v Man City (11/09/04), v Liverpool (27/09/08) and for Australia v Germany (13/06/10) Harry Kewell for Leeds v Blackburn (14/09/97) and for Australia v Ghana (19/06/10) Brett Emerton for Blackburn v Wigan (15/12/07) and for Australia v Croatia (22/06/06) Khalid Boulahrouz for Chelsea v Arsenal (06/05/07) and for Netherlands v Portugal (25/06/06) Wayne Rooney for Everton v Birmingham (26/12/02), for Man United v Fulham (21/03/09) and for England v Portugal (01/07/06) Marco Materazzi for Everton v Coventry (11/04/99) and for Italy v Australia (26/06/06) Giovanni van Bronckhorst for Arsenal v Liverpool (23/12/2001) and for Netherlands v Portugal (25/06/06) Salif Diao for Liverpool v Newcastle (01/01/03) and for Senegal v Denmark (06/06/02) Marcel Desailly for Chelsea v Liverpool (16/10/99) and for France v Brazil (12/07/98) Darryl Powell for Derby v Liverpool (01/02/97) and for Jamaica v Argentina (21/06/98) Stefan Schwarz for Arsenal v Tottenham (02/01/95) and for Sweden v Romania (10/07/94)

THE SQUAD GAME
Hi Martin, am new to your posts but I must appreciate the interesting work you and your team doing. I believe that Man U, Blackburn, West Ham and Aston Villa all have fielded 28 players this season so far. Is this some kind of record and if not then which team has fielded highest number of players in a season, as I think it must be West Ham? Nabil Khalid (Chelsea fan) MARTIN SAYS: Yes Nabil. In fact, since you sent your question, Aston Villa and West Ham have fielded even more players and both have used 31 each in the Premier League. That's in stark contrast to Everton, who have used just 20. Opta have detailed how many players each team has used this season, but the numbers are likely to change as more and more January signings make their debuts. For example, Chelsea have only used 21 players so far in the Premier League, but that will increase when Fernando Torres and David Luiz make their debuts. Most players used in the Premier League (2010/11): 31: Aston Villa, West Ham
29: Man Utd
28: Blackburn, Wolves
27: Blackpool, Fulham, Sunderland, Tottenham
26: Newcastle, West Brom
25: Arsenal, Liverpool, Stoke
24: Man City
23: Wigan
22: Birmingham, Bolton, Chelsea
20: Everton You may be surprised by those figures after the introduction of the 25-man squad rule, but there is great flexibility with the use of young home-grown players, plus of course the lists of players change following the January transfer window. For example, Aston Villa named a 23-man squad in August, but only fielded 20 of those players. However their total of 31 comes from the fact they used seven "home-grown players (Marc Albrighton, Nathan Baker, Barry Bannan, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Delfouneso, Fabian Delph and Chris Herd) plus four new signings (Darren Bent, Jean Makoun, Robert Pires and Kyle Walker) Aston Villa have already used eight players more than they did in the whole of last season when they used just 23. Portsmouth (33) used more players than any other side last term, so Villa only need to use two more players to match that. As a point of comparison, here's how many players each team used last year: 33: Portsmouth
31: Man City
30: Arsenal, Chelsea, Hull, Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham
29: Fulham, Wolves
28: Blackburn, Everton, Sunderland
27: Wigan
26: Burnley
25: Birmingham City, Bolton
23: Aston Villa, Stoke However, it is unlikely that anybody will surpass the Premier League record for most players used in a season. That accolade goes to Middlesbrough who utilised 37 members of their squad in the 2005/06 campaign, though four players only figured once (Colin Cooper, Joseph Desire-Job, Josh Walker and Tom Craddock). Players used by Middlesbrough in 2005/06 Premier League season: Mark Schwarzer, Michael Reiziger, Abel Xavier, Franck Queudrue, Ugo Ehiogu, Gareth Southgate, George Boateng, Szilard Nemeth, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Fabio Rochemback, Emanuel Pogatetz, Gaizka Mendieta, Ray Parlour, Joseph-Desire Job, Doriva, Massimo Maccarone, Stuart Downing, Yakubu, Stuart Parnaby, Brad Jones, Andrew Davies, Colin Cooper, James Morrison, Matthew Bates, Ross Turnbull, Tony McMahon, Danny Graham, David Wheater, Andrew Taylor, Jason Kennedy, Mark Viduka, Adam Johnson, Tom Craddock, Lee Cattermole, Josh Walker

FIRST GOAL WINS
Hi Martin, Me and my friends was wondering if every team in the Premier League had stayed in front when they got into the lead how would the Premier League table had changed. Cheers, Martin. MARTIN SAYS: Those clever chaps at Opta have put together a 'first goal wins' table for you, Martin with each team scoring three points for scoring the first goal or collecting one point if a game finished goalless. The top of the table would not change enormously with Manchester United at the top having taken the lead in 17 of their 24 games this season. They have only conceded the first goal in four games - Everton (a), Bolton (a), Aston Villa (a), and Blackpool (a). They are joined in the top three by Arsenal and Manchester City, while West Brom would be cut adrift at the bottom. Tuesday's game with Wigan was only the sixth occasion when the Baggies scored the first goal in a game.

	Games	First goal	0-0 draws	Points
1. Man Utd	24	17	3	54
2. Man City	25	15	4	49
3. Arsenal	24	15	1	46
4. Liverpool	25	15	1	46
5. Blackburn	25	14	1	43
6. Chelsea	24	13	1	40
7. Bolton	25	13	1	40
8. Sunderland	25	12	3	39
9. Aston Villa	25	12	2	38
10. Blackpool	24	11	1	34
11. Newcastle	24	11	1	34
12. Fulham	25	10	4	34
13. Everton	24	10	2	32
14. Tottenham	24	10	2	32
15. Wolves	24	10	0	30
16. West Ham	25	9	1	28
17. Birmingham	23	8	4	28
18. Wigan	25	8	2	26
19. Stoke	24	8	0	24
20. West Brom	24	6	0	18

AT THE DOUBLE
Hi Martin, After seeing van Persie finally get his long awaited hat-trick last week it came to mind that he has scored two goals in a game a lot of times. His most famous away to Chelsea, where he won us the game, and away to Charlton Athletic, where he scored that ripper volley. My question is, who has the most two-goal games, not including the hat-trick? Cheers, John Enweya (Arsenal fan) MARTIN SAYS: Before his hat-trick against Wigan, Van Persie was fifth on the list of players with the most braces without scoring a treble in Premier League history. He had hit nine doubles before netting that elusive hat-trick. The player with the most is Everton's Louis Saha, who has scored 12 braces, but never scored a hat-trick. Premier League braces without a hat-trick: 12: Louis Saha
11: Ryan Giggs
10: Niall Quinn, John Hartson
9: Craig Bellamy, Steve McManaman, David Hirst
8: Jason Euell
7: Kevin Davies, Julian Joachim, Ian Rush If you're looking for the player to have scored the most braces then the man is Alan Shearer's with 46 - a figure that doesn't include his 11 hat-tricks. Shearer is 12 braces clear of Thierry Henry, who scored doubles in 34 games. In turn, the Frenchman is 12 clear of Robbie Fowler (26), who managed one more than Andy Cole (25). Les Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only other players to have scored two more than 20 times in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Rooney's brace against Villa on Tuesday night was his 17th in the Premier League and lifted him above Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard in the pecking order. The Chelsea duo have both scored 16. Players with the most Premier League braces (excluding hat-tricks): 1. Alan Shearer (46)
2. Thierry Henry (34)
3. Robbie Fowler (26)
4. Andrew Cole (25)
5. Les Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo (21)
7. Michael Owen (19)
8. Teddy Sheringham, Dwight Yorke (18)
10. Wayne Rooney (17)

OUT OF THE BOX
With Drogba scoring another thunderbolt against Bolton from some 30 yards, it got me wondering? Which player has scored the most goals from outside the area? Chris Orell (Staines Town fan) MARTIN SAYS: Drogba is one of three players to have scored three goals from outside the area in the Premier League this season. His strike against Bolton, to which you refer, followed two long-range efforts at home to West Brom in August. Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has also scored three goals from outside the box this season, at Wigan in September, at home to Chelsea in September and then at Blackpool in October. The other player to have scored three times from outside the box this season is Manchester United winger Nani. Their supporters will recall his long-range effort at Bolton in September and then Old Trafford goals against Stoke and Birmingham in January. To date, just seven more players have scored more than one goal from outside the box in the Premier League this year: Everton's Mikel Arteta, Fulham's Chris Baird, Sunderland's Phil Bardsley, Blackpool's DJ Campbell, Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia, West Ham's Scott Parker and Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen have all done it twice.

ARSENAL WITHOUT ARSHAVIN
Hi Martin, Arshavin has dipped in form recently and he's getting criticised quite heavily, I was just wondering where we'd be if he hadn't scored/assisted? Mayhul Bhuva (Arsenal fan) MARTIN SAYS: Andrei Arshavin's goal against Everton on Tuesday night was his 14th direct contribution to an Arsenal goal this season. In 11 different games, he has scored five and directly assisted a further nine. I have detailed those goals below and if you subtract them from Arsenal's record then they would be 11 points worse off, down in sixth place on 38 points, a full 16 points behind Manchester United.

Game	Arshavin goals	Arshavin assists	Revised score	Points lost
Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool	1	1	Arsenal 4-0 Blackpool	0
Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal	1	0	Blackburn 1-1 Arsenal	2
Arsenal 4-1 Bolton	0	1	Arsenal 3-1 Bolton	0
Arsenal 2-3 West Brom	0	1	Arsenal 1-3 West Brom	0
Man City 0-3 Arsenal	0	1	Man City 0-2 Arsenal	0
Everton 1-2 Arsenal	0	1	Everton 1-1 Arsenal	2
Arsenal 2-3 Tottenham	0	1	Arsenal 1-3 Tottenham	0
Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal	1	1	Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal	2
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham	0	1	Arsenal 1-1 Fulham	2
Wigan 2-2 Arsenal	1	1	Wigan 2-0 Arsenal	1
Arsenal 2-1 Everton	1	0	Arsenal 1-1 Everton	2
TOTAL	5	9		11

Tyler's teaser

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