Joys for Roy and Roo
Thursday 7 April 2011 11:52, UK
Another United hat-trick and the table since Roy Hodgson took over at West Brom... it's Martin Tyler!
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 - City's April fuel
I was at Manchester City on Sunday when, remarkably, they won by a five-goal margin for the second successive April 3. And they also had five different goalscorers for the second successive April 3. On that day in 2010 they won 6-1 at Burnley with goals from Emmanuel Adebayor (who unfortunately for Tottenham fans moved his two-goal date to April 5 for this year), Craig Bellamy, Carlos Tevez, Patrick Vieira and Vincent Kompany. This time Vieira and Tevez were joined on the scoresheet by Adam Johnson, David Silva and Yaya Toure in the 5-0 success over Sunderland. So beware of playing Man City on April 3 (there is a Champions League quarter-final scheduled for that date in 2012... you never know). The last time this fixture was played was in December 2009, which was Mark Hughes's 77th (and last) game in charge of City. Strangely, this was Mancini's 77th game in charge also - and on both occasions the manager had a major semi-final against Man United to look forward to - but Hughes didn't get to manage in his. We assume Mancini will be at Wembley after his success on Sunday. I was fortunate enough to then commentate on another team scoring five less than 48 hours later as Schalke beat Inter 5-2 in the San Siro. I must say that Dejan Stankovic's opener in the 23rd second was definitely in the top five goals I've ever commentated on. If you remember any better strikes than that, please tell me about them in the comments box at the bottom of the page.THREE KINGS
After Wayne Rooney's hat-trick against West Ham, it gave Manchester United four Premier League hat-tricks this season. I was wondering if this was some kind of record? If not, which team has scored the most hat-tricks in a Premier League season? Also, I noticed that at least one hat-trick has been scored every month this season, following Rooney's against West Ham, which is the first in April. Has there ever been a Premier League season with a hat-trick scored every month? Calum Starkey MARTIN SAYS: United have now equalled the record for the most Premier League hat-tricks for one team in a single Premier League season. As you say, Rooney's was their fourth of the campaign, following three from Dimitar Berbatov. They are the eighth team to score four hat-tricks in a season and have seven games left to try to break the record. Teams to have scored four Premier League hat-tricks in one season: 1993/94: Arsenal - Kevin Campbell (2), Ian Wright (2)
1994/95: Blackburn - Chris Sutton, Alan Shearer (3)
1995/96: Blackburn - Alan Shearer (4)
1998/99: Liverpool - Michael Owen (2), Robbie Fowler (2)
1999/00: Man Utd - Andy Cole, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Dwight Yorke, Paul Scholes
2002/03: Arsenal - Thierry Henry, Jermaine Pennant, Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg
2002/03: Man Utd - Ruud van Nistelrooy (3), Paul Scholes
2010/11: Man Utd - Dimitar Berbatov (3), Wayne Rooney You are absolutely right to say that we have had at least one Premier League hat-trick in each month of the season: Aug: Didier Drogba, Andy Carroll, Theo Walcott
Sep: Dimitar Berbatov
Oct: Kevin Nolan
Nov: Dimitar Berbatov
Dec: Mario Balotelli
Jan: Leon Best, Dimitar Berbatov, Robin van Persie
Feb: Carlos Tevez, Louis Saha
Mar: Dirk Kuyt
Apr: Wayne Rooney If somebody scores in May then this would be the first season where we have seen a hat-trick in every month of the campaign. Historically, only 14 of the Premier League's 226 hat-tricks have been scored in May but this year there are three full rounds of fixtures in that month and the likes of Manchester City have five league games scheduled in May. Three previous seasons have seen trebles in nine of the 10 months of the football season. In 1993/94, we saw trebles in every month apart from May: Aug: Mick Quinn, Tony Cottee
Sep: Kevin Campbell, Efan Ekoku
Oct: Alan Shearer, Robbie Fowler, Peter Beardsley
Nov: Bradley Allen, Andy Cole
Dec: Kevin Campbell
Jan: Tony Cottee
Feb: Jan-Aage Fjortoft, Dean Saunders, Matt Le Tissier, Andy Cole
Mar: Ian Wright x2
Apr: Matt Le Tissier, Dean Holdsworth
May: None In 1997/98, the only month missing was March - although Chris Sutton did score one on February 28: August: Dion Dublin, Chris Sutton, Gianluca Vialli, Dennis Bergkamp
September: Ian Wright
October: Patrik Berger, Andy Cole
November: Andy Booth, Gianfranco Zola
December: Tore Andre Flo, Duncan Ferguson
January: Kevin Gallacher
Feb: Michael Owen, Chris Sutton
Mar: None
Apr: Darren Huckerby
May: Jurgen Klinsmann The last time we saw hat-tricks in nine out of 10 months was 2000/01, when none were scored in January: Aug: Paulo Wanchope
Sep: Michael Owen
Oct: Emile Heskey, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Teddy Sheringham
Nov: Mark Viduka, Les Ferdinand
Dec: Ray Parlour, Kevin Phillips, Thierry Henry
Jan: None
Feb: Dwight Yorke
Mar: Sylvain Wiltord
Apr: Marcus Stewart
May: Michael Owen
SPOT ON
Hi Martin. I noticed this weekend there were a high number of penalties awarded by referees in the Premier League and was wondering how this compares to previous rounds of matches? I cannot remember a week like it. And great column Martin!! Keep up the good work. Best regards, Aman Mahal, London MARTIN SAYS: Again, the boys at Opta have the data you're looking for. This weekend we saw seven penalties awarded (and all were scored by Mark Noble x2, Chris Brunt x2, Wayne Rooney, Leighton Baines and Carlos Tevez). We have only seen one matchday this year when more were awarded and that was the weekend of 5/6 February. That weekend we saw seven penalties scored by Joey Barton (2), Carlos Tevez (2), David Dunn, Ben Watson and Rafael van der Vaart, while an eighth spot kick was awarded and missed by Van der Vaart against Bolton (although initially he was successful, but it was retaken for encroachment). That famous day in February broke the record for the most penalties scored on a single day in the Premier League. The six that were netted on Saturday (Tevez's came on Sunday) puts that day in joint second in the all-time list of penalties on a single Premier League afternoon. Interestingly, three of the top eight days in Premier League history for penalties scored have come this season. As well as the two instances mentioned above, we also saw six penalties on November 20 when Van der Vaart, Kevin Davies (2), Dirk Kuyt, Jonathan Walters and Matthew Etherington all scored from the spot. Most penalties scored on a Premier League afternoon:
| Date | Goals (penalties) |
| 05/02/2011 | 7 |
| 13/09/2003 | 6 |
| 19/08/1995 | 6 |
| 20/11/2010 | 6 |
| 05/04/2003 | 6 |
| 14/08/1999 | 6 |
| 02/04/2011 | 6 |
| 28/11/2009 | 6 |
| 13/11/2004 | 5 |
| 05/02/1994 | 5 |
| 10/04/1993 | 5 |
| 02/12/2006 | 5 |
| 08/12/2007 | 5 |
| 27/02/2010 | 5 |
ROY'S BOYS
Dear Martin. Can you show us what the table would look like if the season started when Roy Hodgson took over at West Brom. Surely we'd be in the European places? Joe Cooper (West Brom fan) MARTIN SAYS: You're absolutely right Joe. If the Premier League had started on February 11 when Roy Hodgson took over at West Brom then the Baggies would be fourth in the table behind only Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton on 10 points. However, they have played one more game than most teams in that period and would only be just ahead of Arsenal (P5 PTS9), West Ham (P5 PTS8), Fulham (P5 PTS8), Man City (P5 PTS7) and Bolton (P5 PTS7). Bottom of the table in this period would be Sunderland, who have picked up just one point in their last five games, away at Arsenal. They would prop up the table behind Blackburn (3 points) and Aston Villa, Wigan, Stoke and Blackpool (5 points). Here, for the Baggies fans, is how the top of the table would look if the league had started on February 11:
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Manchester United | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 12 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| 3 | Everton | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 11 |
| 4 | West Brom | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 6 | West Ham | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 8 |
EURO STARS
It's incredible to think that 50% of English teams who have won the European Cup / Champions League have gone on to be relegated... those teams being Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Are they the only teams to have won a European trophy to never have played in the Champions League? Finally, Liverpool have won the Champions League without ever winning the Premiership. Is there any other team who have won the Champions League without ever winning their own national league while the Champions League has been in existence? Thanks Timmy Tour (Tottenham fan) MARTIN SAYS: To answer your first question, there is one team, apart from Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, who have won the European Cup but never played in the Champions League. That team is Red Star Belgrade, who won the European Cup in 1991, but have never made the group stages of the redesigned competition. They have been knocked out in the qualifying rounds in five years (2001, 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008). As for other European competitions, four teams have won the UEFA Cup and never played in Champions League: Borussia Mönchengladbach (1975, 1979)
Eintracht Frankfurt (1980)
Ipswich Town (1981)
Napoli (1989) And 10 teams have won the Cup Winners Cup and never played in Champions League West Ham United (1965)
Slovan Bratislava (1969)
Manchester City (1970)
1. FC Magdeburg (1974)
Dinamo Tbilisi (1981)
Aberdeen (1983)
Everton (1985)
Mechelen (1988)
Sampdoria (1990)
Real Zaragoza (1995) To answer your other question, Liverpool are indeed the only team to have won the Champions League without ever winning their own domestic league while the competition has been in existence. In fact, only six of the 18 Champions League winners have won the competition, having not won their domestic league the previous season. They are: Barcelona (2009)
AC Milan (2007)
Liverpool (2005)
AC Milan (2003)
Real Madrid (2000)
Man Utd (1999)
FIRST-SEASON GOAL-GETTERS
Dear Martin. Hi, great job on the column as always. After seeing Javier Hernandez's amazing debut season, it made me wonder: How many players have scored more than 10 goals in their debut league season? I think he's one of the very few ones. Thanks, Chirag Singhvi (Man Utd fan) MARTIN SAYS: We have looked into this for you and found there are lots of players who have hit double figures in their debut seasons. To ensure a fair comparison we have looked only at 38-game seasons and therefore only at players who made their Premier League debuts in 1995/96 or later. We have counted the season where a player made his first Premier League appearance as their "debut season". As you can see, the player who scored the most goals in his first Premier League season is Kevin Phillips, who netted 30 times for Sunderland in his first top-flight campaign in 1999/2000. That puts him well clear of the likes of Fernando Torres and Ruud van Nistelrooy. So Javier Hernandez, with 11 goals to his name, has a long way to go to reach that mark. I have listed below the top 15 debut season goalscorers in a 38-game Premier League season. You'll notice names such as Marcus Stewart and Hamilton Ricard among some more high-profile players.
| Player | Club | Season | Goals |
| Kevin Phillips | Sunderland | 1999/00 | 30 |
| Fernando Torres | Liverpool | 2007/08 | 24 |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy | Man Utd | 2001/02 | 23 |
| Andy Johnson | Crystal Palace | 2004/05 | 21 |
| Roque Santa Cruz | Blackburn | 2007/08 | 19 |
| Marcus Stewart | Ipswich | 2000/01 | 19 |
| Benni McCarthy | Blackburn | 2006/07 | 18 |
| Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | Man Utd | 1996/97 | 18 |
| Thierry Henry | Arsenal | 1999/00 | 17 |
| Mark Viduka | Leeds | 2000/01 | 17 |
| Yakubu | Portsmouth | 2003/04 | 16 |
| Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | Leeds | 1997/98 | 16 |
| Fabrizio Ravanelli | Middlesbrough | 1996/97 | 16 |
| Hamilton Ricard | Middlesbrough | 1998/99 | 15 |
| Robinho | Man City | 2008/09 | 14 |
THE FULL SET
Hi Martin. I'd be interested to see how many of Blackpool's goals have come from set pieces. It seems if we don't score that way, we don't score at all. Nick P (Blackpool fan) Dear Martin. I'm amazed at how many goals my team, Aston Villa have conceded from set pieces this season. Has anybody conceded more than us from free kicks / corners / pens? Dave (Aston Villa fan) MARTIN SAYS: I thought I'd answer these two questions at the same time and those helpful chaps at Opta have provided us with details of how many goals each team has scored and conceded from set pieces (goals from free kicks / corners and penalties) this season. In terms of goals scored, only Chelsea have scored more goals than Blackpool from set pieces this season. The Tangerines have netted 20 times from set plays - but it would be wrong to suggest that's their usual method of scoring as they have scored 25 times from open play. Sunderland have scored the fewest goals from set pieces, just eight times, while Birmingham and Stoke are the only sides to have scored more Premier League goals from set pieces than in open play this term. Goals scored (2010/11):
| Team | Set piece | Open Play |
| Chelsea | 21 | 33 |
| Blackpool | 20 | 25 |
| Newcastle | 20 | 28 |
| Stoke City | 19 | 18 |
| Blackburn | 18 | 21 |
| Man City | 17 | 33 |
| Birmingham | 16 | 14 |
| West Ham | 16 | 22 |
| Bolton | 15 | 28 |
| Liverpool | 15 | 27 |
| Man Utd | 15 | 53 |
| Fulham | 14 | 22 |
| Wolves | 13 | 23 |
| Arsenal | 11 | 48 |
| West Brom | 13 | 30 |
| Everton | 12 | 30 |
| Arsenal | 11 | 48 |
| Totenham | 11 | 30 |
| Wigan | 11 | 18 |
| Aston Villa | 10 | 29 |
| Sunderland | 8 | 25 |
| Team | Set piece | Open play |
| West Brom | 26 | 31 |
| Aston Villa | 24 | 29 |
| Sunderland | 20 | 22 |
| West Ham | 19 | 34 |
| Blackpool | 18 | 44 |
| Blackburn | 17 | 35 |
| Bolton | 16 | 26 |
| Arsenal | 15 | 14 |
| Man Utd | 15 | 17 |
| Birmingham | 14 | 28 |
| Wolves | 14 | 39 |
| Liverpool | 14 | 24 |
| Everton | 13 | 29 |
| Stoke | 13 | 26 |
| Newcastle | 12 | 34 |
| Man City | 11 | 16 |
| Tottenham | 10 | 24 |
| Fulham | 9 | 24 |
| Wigan | 9 | 42 |
| Chelsea | 6 | 18 |
