One to go...
Wednesday 9 May 2012 14:59, UK
From final-game deciders to relegated goal-getters, get your stats fix with Martin Tyler.
Martin brings you a tricky teaser. Can you get the answers?
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, 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 - Reds at the double
I was at Anfield to see Liverpool complete their second league double in succession over Chelsea and their third in four years. It was the 32nd meeting of the two since October 2004 - and the second in three days! The 4-1 win for Liverpool means they have won four successive league games against Chelsea for first time since August 1974. Andy Carroll, who was Man of the Match, has still only scored in one home game in the Premier League for Liverpool - he scored two goals in April 2011 at home to Man City. Stewart Downing still hasn't scored a Premier League goal for Liverpool having hit the post with his penalty. He became the fifth Liverpool player to fail from the penalty spot this season (Kuyt 2, Suarez 2, Adam, Carroll and Downing all failed). In all competitions they've only scored four of 11 penalties and they've only scored one of six Premier League spot-kicks this season - Charlie Adam at West Brom in October. In 10 away league games since Christmas, Chelsea have scored only two first-half goals; Daniel Sturridge at Aston Villa and a Frank Lampard penalty at Fulham. It was their sixth away league defeat this season with four coming in the North West against Man United, Man City, Everton and Liverpool. They also lost at West Brom and QPR. Chelsea will finish sixth whatever happens on Sunday and it will be their lowest points total since Roman Abramovich took over in 2003. Meanwhile, Liverpool avoided their worst home record since 1949 (5 wins). Their tally of six home wins has, however, been their lowest since 1952 when they also only won six.UP FOR GRABS WITH ONE TO GO
Hi Martin. In the wake of Man City's win at Newcastle, I can only hope for QPR to pull off a miracle result next week. That being said, how often has the club leading the league table at the start of the final day failed to win the title? Best regards, Arjun Kudva (Man Utd fan) MARTIN SAYS: This is a good question, but answering it can be quite complicated, as on several occasions in English league history there was no "final day" of games. Quite often teams had played all of their games and been top of the league while their nearest rivals had games to play - or vice-versa. What we have decided to do is to look at the points totals of the sides in contention for the league title with one game remaining each - irrespective of when those games were played. This allows us to see the occasions, like this weekend, when the result of the title was determined by the result of the final game for each of the contenders. This is the 35th occasion in the history of the English league when more than one side could theoretically win the league with one game each left to play. On 27 of those occasions, the team that was in pole position with one round of games left to play ended up winning the league - so the omens are good for Manchester City. That includes the five previous occasions when the title has been decided on the final day in the Premier League era: 1995: Blackburn beat Manchester United to the title
1996: Manchester United beat Newcastle to the title
1999: Manchester United beat Arsenal to the title
2008: Manchester United beat Chelsea to the title
2010: Chelsea beat Manchester United to the title However, there are seven seasons in English league history that will give Manchester United fans hope:
1989
Arsenal went into the final game of the season three points behind Liverpool - who were their final day opponents. The Gunners famously secured the 2-0 win they needed to take the title on goal difference.1972
After 41 games each of the 1971/72 season four teams could all have technically won the title. Leeds were on 57 points, Liverpool and Derby were on 56 and Manchester City were on 55. Man City's title challenge ended when they lost to Derby on April 22. Derby then won their last game against Liverpool on May 1, but had to wait for Liverpool and Leeds to finish their fixtures before they could claim the title. Liverpool would draw 0-0 with Arsenal, while Leeds beat Arsenal and lost to Wolves - and the Rams ended up as champions, even though they were effectively in third place after 41 games each.1947
Liverpool were in fourth place going into the final round of matches, but Man Utd in third had already played their 42nd game so were not in the title race. The Reds were level on points with Stoke in second and one point behind leaders Wolves, whom they beat 2-1 on the final day to jump to the top of the standings (Stoke lost their final game).1938
Arsenal went into the final game of the season one point behind Wolves, but thrashed Bolton 5-0 as they took advantage of their rivals' 1-0 defeat at Sunderland on the same day to finish top of the pile.1924
Cardiff were one point clear of Huddersfield Town going into the final day of the 1923/24 season, but they could only manage a 0-0 draw at Birmingham. Huddersfield won 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest on the same day to claim the title.1911
Manchester United have been second on the final day before and ended up as champions - but you have to go all the way back to 1911. They were one point behind leaders Aston Villa, but they lost 3-1 at Liverpool and United took advantage by beating Sunderland 5-1. Sir Alex Ferguson will hope that a victory over the same opponents will work for him this weekend!1903
Sunderland were one point clear of Sheffield Wednesday after both sides had completed their penultimate games. Sunderland lost their final game to Newcastle a few days after Wednesday had won their final game 3-1 against west Brom. However, Wednesday were always a game ahead of Sunderland, so technically were never behind them. We should also mention 1968 when Man City and Man Utd were level on points going into the final day and City won their last game at Newcastle and Man Utd lost their last game at home to Sunderland as City won the league.POINTS, BUT NO PRIZES
Hi Martin. If both Manchester United and Manchester City win their remaining game, then Manchester United would end the season with 89 points and most likely in second place. Has any team not won the Premier League with this many points? Thanks, Saranyan Manohar (Manchester United fan) MARTIN SAYS: Only five of the 16 Premier League seasons featuring 20 teams have finished with the champions on more than 89 points: Highest points tallies in Premier League history (38-game seasons only) 2004/05: Chelsea (95)
1999/2000: Man Utd (91)
2005/06: Chelsea (91)
2003/01: Arsenal (90)
2008/09: Man Utd (90) And we have NEVER seen the runners-up finish up with as many as 89 points in a 20-team Premier League season. Highest points tallies of Premier League runners-up (38-game seasons only): 2008/09: Liverpool (86)
2007/08: Chelsea (85)
2009/10: Man Utd (85)
2004/05: Arsenal (83)
2005/06: Man Utd (83)
2006/07: Chelsea (83) So both City and united have already matched the highest tally for a second-placed side in a 38-game season. In fact, If both Manchester clubs win on Sunday and Man Utd finish on 89 points they would have the highest points tally of ANY runners-up in the Premier League era, including the three seasons when each side played 42 games. The Man Utd side that finished second to Blackburn in 1994/95 ended up on 88 points, despite playing four more games than the current crop.
YAK DOWN
Dear Martin. Yakubu has scored 16 league goals this season, but Blackburn have still been relegated. Can you tell us if a player has ever scored more than 16 goals in a Premier League season and still suffered the drop? Ashley Cain (Bolton fan) MARTIN SAYS: Thanks to the boffins at Opta I can tell you that only one player in the history of the Premier league has scored more goals than Yakubu for a relegated side. That man is Andrew Johnson, who scored 21 goals for Crystal Palace in 2004/05 and was second top-scorer behind Thierry Henry of Arsenal, but his side finished in 18th and were demoted. Yakubu has matched the tally of 16 goals scored by Fabrizio Ravanelli for Middlesbrough in their relegation season of 1996/97. He was the sixth highest scorer in the division that year, but his team finished 19th and went down. However, Yakubu can still add to his tally in Blackburn's final game at Chelsea on Sunday. Opta have identified 13 men who have scored 12 goals or more for relegated sides. Those players are: 21 GOALS
2004/2005: Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace) 16 GOALS
1996/1997: Fabrizio Ravanelli (Middlesbrough)
2011/2012: Yakubu (Blackburn) 15 GOALS
1992/1993: Paul Wilkinson (Middlesbrough)
1992/1993: Chris Armstrong (Crystal Palace) 13 GOALS
2006/2007: Darren Bent (Charlton Athletic)
2010/2011: Blackpool (Blackpool) 12 GOALS
2003/2004: Les Ferdinand (Leicester City)
2004/2005: Peter Crouch (Southampton)
1996/1997: Juninho (Middlesbrough)
1997/1998: Nathan Blake (Bolton)
2010/2011: Charlie Adam (Blackpool)
GROUNDS FOR GOALS
Dear Martin. I've been wondering which Premier League ground has witnessed the most goals this season? I can't work out if it would be the Etihad or Old Trafford where the home teams have scored lots of goals or if it would be somewhere like Molineux where Wolves have let in lots of goals. Or is it one of the mid-table teams? Are you able to enlighten us? Mick (Blackpool fan) MARTIN SAYS: In terms of goals, the stadium that has seen the most during this Premier League season is Old Trafford. Manchester United's 4-4 draw with Everton and their 6-1 loss to Man City are just a couple of the results that have contributed to a total of 71 goals scored there this season in 19 games. Five grounds have seen exactly 62 goals this season - the Reebok Stadium, Craven Cottage, Molineux, Eastlands and Stamford Bridge - although the latter two have one game left to see the totals increase. At the other end of the spectrum, The Hawthorns has seen 38 goals in the 18 games played there already this season, but that tally could increase when Arsenal visit on Sunday. Anfield had witnessed the fewest goals before the five we saw there on Tuesday night took their total from 35 to 40 for the season. Number of Premier League goals scored on each ground this season: Old Trafford: 71
Reebok Stadium: 62
Stamford Bridge: 62*
Craven Cottage: 62
Eastlands: 62*
Molineux: 62
Ewood Park: 59
Emirates: 56
Carrow Road: 56*
White Hart Lane: 54*
Loftus Road: 49
St James Park: 46
Villa Park: 45
Liberty Stadium: 44*
DW Stadium: 44*
Stadium of Light: 42*
Britannia Stadium:41*
Anfield: 40
Goodison Park: 39*
The Hawthorns: 38* *One game still to play
UP AND SAFE
Martin. I was looking at the Premier League table and noticed that Aston Villa are safe, despite only winning seven matches (so far). Has anybody ever won fewer games than this and survived? Also, QPR and Bolton have won 10 games each and could still go down. What's the most wins from a relegated side? Mark (Aston Villa fan) MARTIN SAYS: In the history of the Premier League we have only seen one side win fewer games than Aston Villa have this season and still retain their top-flight status. That was the West Brom side of 2004/05, which only managed six wins all season and yet climbed out of the relegation zone on the final day to finish 17th with 34 points. If Aston Villa fail to beat Norwich on Sunday then they will become the second team in Premier League history to survive with less than eight wins. Fewest wins and survived in the Premier League: SIX WINS
2004/05: West Brom (finished 17th) SEVEN WINS
2011/12: Aston Villa (one game left to play) EIGHT WINS
1995/96: Coventry (finished 16th)
2006/07: Fulham (finished 16th)
2007/08: Fulham (finished 17th)
2008/09: Hull City (finished 17th)
2009/10: West Ham (finished 17th) To answer your other question, Bolton or QPR will become only the eighth side to record 10 wins in a 38-game Premier League season and be relegated. In fact, if QPR get a result at Eastlands and Bolton beat Stoke, then the Trotters will become the first side to be relegated in a 38-game campaign with 11 wins to their name. Teams with 10 wins and relegated from the Premier League (38-game seasons only): 1996/97: Sunderland
1996/97: Middlesbrough
1997/98: Barnsley
2002/03: West Ham
2006/07: Sheffield United
2007/08: Reading
2010/11: Blackpool NB. Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough were both relegated after winning 11 games in 1992/93 and Palace went down with 11 wins in 1994/95, but all of these teams played 42 games.
