Man-ic Mondays

Liverpool without Luis, Man Utd's post-Christmas record and beating all 19... it's Martin Tyler!

Martin brings you a teaser from Ewood Park 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 - Happy Mondays for Man Utd

Manchester United have now won their last nine Premier League games on a Monday without conceding a single goal. You have to go back to 1998 to find their last league defeat on a Monday when they lost 1-0 to Southampton through a goal from Kevin Davies. Antonio Valencia scored his 16th strike for Man Utd in his 100th game for the club. Also, in his 16th career appearance at Ewood Park he finally won for the first time. He only speaks halting English, but he came up with the quote of the night when asked if his goal was a shot or a cross and he said in perfect English "fifty-fifty". Ashley Young scored his fifth Premier League goal for Man Utd, but they've come in just three games. He got two in the in 8-2 win over Arsenal and two in the 3-1 away win at Spurs before Monday's strike. He now has eight goals against Blackburn, having scored seven for Aston Villa, in 13 appearances. It was Man Utd's 12th away win of the season, which is par for the course for many championship-winning sides, but they only won five times away last season when they won league. They've now scored in 30 of 31 Premier League games, only failing in the 0-3 at Newcastle. Since that game they have taken 31 points out of 33, only dropping points in the 3-3 draw at Chelsea. They've won their last seven in a row too.

SHOTS TO THE HEART
Hiya Martin, which team has had the most goals-to-shots against them? For example, watching the Blackburn vs United match, Blackburn had plenty of chances and all I could think of was, had that been again my team they would have scored. I'm a Liverpool fan and it has seemed like teams against us have had one, two, three shots and scored all of them. Thanks for your help, James from Liverpool. MARTIN SAYS: It's interesting that you should send us this question after watching the Blackburn v Manchester United match because those are the two teams at the extreme ends of the answer. The team who've suffered from the best conversion rates by their opponents is Blackburn. According to Opta, 64 of the 369 shots they have allowed have resulted in goals - a conversion rate of 17.3 per cent, which is far higher than any other team in the Premier League. Second on our list is Arsenal who have only conceded 250 shots (the second lowest number in the Premier League) but have conceded 41 goals (eight sides have conceded fewer); a conversion rate of 16.4 per cent. Third on the list is Wolves, who have conceded the most shots (426) and goals (68) in the Premier League this season - that means their opponents have converted 16.0 per cent of their shots into goals. At the other extreme, the conversion rate of shots to goals of teams playing against Manchester United this season is just 8.7 per cent - and only Manchester City have conceded fewer goals than them. Roberto Mancini's are second bottom of this table having seen just 10.2 per cent of shots against them go in. Interestingly, only three teams have allowed more shots on their goal than Swansea this season, but only 10.4 per cent of those shots have resulted in goals and they have the eighth best defensive record in the league. As for your team, Liverpool they are 12th on our list having seen 12.7 per cent of the shots against them result in goals. So they haven't been particularly unlucky in that regard.

Team name	Total shots conceded	Goals conceded	Opponent conversion rate
Blackburn Rovers	369	64	17.3%
Arsenal	250	41	16.4%
Wolves	426	68	16%
QPR	341	54	15.8%
Wigan Athletic	353	55	15.6%
Bolton Wanderers	398	60	15.1%
Stoke City	298	43	14.4%
Aston Villa	299	42	14%
Chelsea	273	36	13.2%
Newcastle	325	42	12.9%
Norwich City	381	49	12.9%
Liverpool	260	33	12.7%
West Brom	339	43	12.7%
Tottenham	290	36	12.4%
Everton	268	32	11.9%
Fulham	361	42	11.6%
Sunderland	341	37	10.9%
Swansea City	375	39	10.4%
Manchester City	244	25	10.2%
Manchester United	311	27	8.7%

UNITED'S POST-CHRISTMAS BOOM?
Hi Martin, can you dig out the facts and figures to show how United really do seem to improve in the final part of the season please. I'd be really interested to see a comparison of how many wins they pick-up after Christmas compared to before in seasons gone by... thanks Dave Hatton (Manchester Utd fan) MARTIN SAYS: I have outlined these stats for you below. As you can see, in 12 of the previous 19 Premier League seasons, including this one, Manchester United have enjoyed a higher win percentage after Christmas than they did before - and in eight of those seasons they went on to win the title. The only four seasons when they performed better before Christmas than they did afterwards and still went on to win the title were 1993/94, 2000/01, 2006/07 and 2007/08. This season they have a marginally higher win percentage after Christmas. They have won 78.6 per cent of their games since December 25, compared to 76.5 per cent before. However, in a number of seasons we have seen a much more noticeable improvement. In 2008/09 their win percentage rose from 56.3 per cent to 86.4 per cent and in their treble-winning season of 1998/99 it rose from 44.45 per cent to 70 per cent. Personally, I tend to look at it as they don't tail away like other teams do. They sustain a campaign better than most, rather than winning the league over the second half. The full breakdown from Opta is below: 1992/93
Pre-Christmas: P20, W9, D7, L4, F22, A14, W% 45%
Post-Christmas: P22, W15, D5, L2, F45, A17, W% 68.2% 1993/94
Pre-Christmas: P21,W16, D4, L1, F43, A17, W% 76.2%
Post-Christmas: P21, W11, D7, L3, F37, A21, W% 52.4% 1994/95
Pre-Christmas: P19, W13, D2, L4, F36, A14, W% 68.4%
Post-Christmas: P23, W13, D8, L2, F41, A14, W% 56.5% 1995/96
Pre-Christmas: P19, W10, D5, L4, F36, A22, W% 52.6%
Post-Christmas: P19, W15, D2, L2, F37, A13, W% 78.9% 1996/97
Pre-Christmas: P18, W8, D7, L3, F37, A25, W% 44.4%
Post-Christmas: P20, W13, D5, L2, F39, A19, W% 65% 1997/98
Pre-Christmas: P19, W13, D4, L2, F45, A13, W% 68.4%
Post-Christmas: P19, W10, D4, L5, F28, A13, W% 52.6% 1998/99
Pre-Christmas: P18, W8, D7, L3, F36, A23, W% 44.4%
Post-Christmas: P20, W14, D6, L0, F44, A14, W% 70% 1999/2000
Pre-Christmas: P17, W12, D3, L2, F44, A23, W% 70.6%
Post-Christmas: P19, W11, D4, L4, F53, A22, W% 76.2% 2000/01
Pre-Christmas: P19, W13, D4, L2, F46, A14, W% 68.4%
Post-Christmas: P19, W11, D4, L1, F53, A22, W% 57.9% 2001/02
Pre-Christmas: P18, W9, D3, L6, F43, A28, W% 50%
Post-Christmas: P20, W15, D2, L3, F44, A17, 75% 2002/03
Pre-Christmas: P19, W10, D5, L4, F30, A18, W% 52.6%
Post-Christmas: P19, W15, D3, L1, F44, A16, W% 78.9% 2003/04
Pre-Christmas: P17, W13, D1, L3, F34, A11, W% 76.5%
Post-Christmas: P21, W10, D5, L6, F30, A24, W% 47.6% 2004/05
Pre-Christmas: P18, W9, D7, L2, F28, A13, W% 50%
Post-Christmas: P20, W13, D4, L3, F30, A13, W% 65% 2005/06
Pre-Christmas: P17, W11, D4, L2, F31, A14, W% 64.7%
Post-Christmas: P21, W14, D4, L3, F41, A20, W% 66.7% 2006/07
Pre-Christmas: P19, W15, D2, L2, F41, A10, W% 78.9%
Post-Christmas: P19, W13, D3, L3, F42, A17, W% 68.4% 2007/08
Pre-Christmas: P18, W 13, D3, L2, F32, A9, W% 72.2%
Post-Christmas: P20, W14, D3, L3, F48, A13, W% 70% 2008/09
Pre-Christmas: P16, W9, D5, L2, F27, A10, W% 56.3%
Post-Christmas: P22, W19, D1, L2, F41, A14, W% 86.4% 2009/10
Pre-Christmas: P18, W12, D1, L5, F37, A17, W% 66.7%
Post-Christmas: P20, W15, D3, L2, F49, A11, W% 75% 2010/11
Pre-Christmas: P16, W9, D7, L0, F36, A16, W% 56.3%
Post-Christmas: P22, W14, D4, L4, F42, A21, W% 63.6% 2011/12
Pre-Christmas: P17, W13, D3, L1, F42, A14, W% 76.5%
Post-Christmas: P14, W11, D1, L2, F34, A13, W% 78.6%

THE CLEAN SWEEP
Dear Martin, Great column, my question is if Arsenal beat Manchester City and Wolves in our upcoming fixtures we would had have beaten 17 out of the 19 other teams in the Premier League this season. Has any team beaten all 19 other clubs in at least one game throughout a whole season? Lemar Walters (Arsenal fan) MARTIN SAYS: You're absolutely right. Arsenal have picked up wins against 15 of the 19 Premier League teams this season and could take that to 17 by beating Man City and Wolves (they lost twice to Man Utd and failed to beat Fulham this year). In fact, no team can achieve the feat this season. Man City had beaten 17 of the 19 sides and were on course to do it, only needing home victories over Sunderland on Saturday and West Brom on April 11. However, they could only manage a draw with the Black Cats on Saturday. The other side in the top three, Manchester United, have also beaten 17 sides this term, but their hopes of a clean sweep ended on January 4 when they lost to Newcastle. They can, however, rack up 18 scalps if they beat Man City at the Etihad at the end of the month. Thanks to those clever chaps at Opta I can tell you that only two sides in the history of the 20-team Premier League have secured wins over all of their opponents. One of those teams was Manchester United last season and the other was Jose Mourinho's Chelsea side of 2005/06. Those teams both had wonderful home records with Man Utd winning 18 of 19 home games - and then winning away to West Brom as well. Even Arsenal's Invincibles of 2003/04 only beat 17 of their 19 opponents. Even though they were unbeaten, they only managed a pair of draws with both Manchester United and Portsmouth.

LOSING WITH LUIS?
Martin. It struck me that Liverpool's current poor form has coincided with the return of Suarez. How do they compare with and without him? Cheers, Dave MARTIN SAYS: Luis Suarez has only failed to start in seven of Liverpool's 31 Premier League games so far this season and the Reds have a 43 per cent win percentage in those games. That drops to 33 per cent in the 24 matches he has started. On average they have scored slightly more goals when he hasn't been in the team. Opta have broken it down for us.

Liverpool PL 2011-12	With Suarez starting	Without Suarez starting
Games	24	7
Wins	8	3
Draws	7	2
Losses	9	2
Goals for	27	9
Average goals for	1.13	1.29
Goals against	26	7
Average goals against	1.08	1.00
Win %	33%	43%
Points per game	1.29	1.57

When you take into account the two games where he came on as a substitute then the difference narrows. Liverpool have won 35 per cent of their league games when he has been involved and 40 per cent when he hasn't. However, he has only missed five league games so is this really a fair comparison? I don't think you can blame one player because nobody has taken on the scoring mantle for them this season. It's a collective failure to score that has hurt Liverpool so much in the league. Again, thanks to Opta for this breakdown:

Liverpool PL 2011/12	With Suarez	Without Suarez
Games	26	5
Wins	9	2
Draws	8	1
Losses	9	2
Goals for	29	7
Average goals for	1.12	1.40
Goals against	26	7
Average goals against	1.00	1.40
Win %	35%	40%
Points per game	1.35	1.40

MAKING THEIR LANDMARK
Hi Martin, which players has been the fastest to 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 goals in the Premier League? Also could you provide the same for goalkeepers and clean sheets? Keep up with the great column. Cheers Johanan Thomas (Manchester Utd fan) MARTIN SAYS: We certainly can. With the help of Opta we have broken the stats down for you below.

Premier League Goals

Fastest to five: Pavel Pogrebnyak (3 games) The Fulham man netted five in his first three outings this season, breaking the record previously held by Jurgen Klinsmann, Mick Quinn and Sergio Aguero (4 games) Fastest to 10: Mick Quinn (6 games) Coventry's Mick Quinn hit 10 goals in his first six Premier League games in the very first Premier League season. Mark Viduka is the second quickest having hit 10 in nine games for Leeds in 2000. Papiss Cisse has seven in seven, so could maybe beat Viduka's tally if he scores a hat-trick against Swansea on Friday! Fastest to 20: Kevin Phillips (21 games) The Sunderland striker needed just 21 games to hit 20 goals for Sunderland in 1999/2000, breaking the previous record of 20 goals in 23 games set by Andrew Cole in 1993/94. Fastest to 50: Andrew Cole (65 games) Andrew Cole needed just 65 games to reach his half-century, achieving the landmark in March 1995. He broke the record set by Alan Shearer who is second quickest on the list with 50 on 66 games. Fastest to 100: Alan Shearer (124) Shearer reached 100 Premier League goals midway through the fourth Premier League season and nobody has come close to scoring a century in so few games. Thierry Henry is the second quickest, hitting 100 goals in 160 games for Arsenal.

Premier League Clean Sheets

Fastest to five: Alex Manninger / Anders Lindegaard (5 games) This season Manchester United goalkeeper became the second goalkeeper in history to keep clean sheets in his first five Premier League games, matching the record achieved by Arsenal's Alex Manninger in 1998. Petr Cech did it in his sixth game. Fastest to 10: Alex Manninger / Jose Reina (13 games) Manninger also holds this record with 10 clean sheets in 13 matches, sharing it with Jose Reina who matched the feat at the start of his Liverpool career in 2005. Petr Cech had to wait until his 15th appearance to reach this particular milestone. Fastest to 20: Petr Cech (26 games) Chelsea goalkeeper Cech dominates the records from here on in, reaching 20 shutouts in just 26 matches. Jose Reina is second on the Premier League list, getting there in 32 appearances. Fastest to 50: Petr Cech (80 games) Cech needed just 80 games to reach a half-century of clean sheets. Reina is again the second fastest, having got there in 92 appearances. Fastest to 100: Petr Cech (174 games) Cech reached his century in 174 games, well ahead of fellow goalkeeping greats Reina (198 games), Peter Schmeichel (211 games) and David Seaman (224 games).

Tyler's teaser

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