Striking statistics
Thursday 10 January 2013 16:26, UK
Martin Tyler has stats on the goals of Van Persie, Suarez and Sturridge, plus a Bradford City teaser.
Martin's back with some fascinating stats...
Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is here! Every week on skysports.com he answers your questions and offers you statistical gems from what he's seen as he tours the world commentating for Sky Sports. Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts want your queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game. So if you have spotted something from a matche or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.Tyler's teaser
But as usual we'll kick off with a question for YOU. Click play to see this week's Tyler's Teaser.UNITED'S LATE SHOWS Hi Martin, After seeing RVP's 91st-minute strike v West Ham, I was just wondering how many goals have Manchester United scored after the 85th minute this season? It seems to be that they score a late goal nearly every game. And what is the most in a season any team has scored after the 85th minute? Many thanks, Rhys Williams (Liverpool Fan) MARTIN SAYS: Robin van Persie's strike against West Ham was the ninth goal that Manchester United have scored after the 85th minute this season (excluding extra time goals), including one in each of their last four fixtures. Interestingly, all of those late goals have come from just two players - Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez and are as follows: Robin van Persie (87th minute v Southampton, Premier League)
Robin van Persie (90th minute v Southampton, Premier League)
Javier Hernandez (90th minute v Braga, Champions League)
Javier Hernandez (87th minute v Aston Villa, Premier League)
Robin van Persie (90th minute v Man City, Premier League)
Javier Hernandez (89th minute v Newcastle, Premier League)
Robin van Persie (90th minute v West Brom, Premier League)
Robin van Persie (88th minute v Wigan, Premier League)
Robin van Persie (90th minute v West Ham, FA Cup) We asked our friends at Opta to look through the record books to see which side has scored more post-85th minute goals than Manchester United in the Premier League. If you look at league games only, United have got seven post-85th minute goals this season and Opta tell us that 75 teams have scored eight or more in one season. Manchester United's best tally is the 11 post-85th minute goals they scored in 2007/08 - so they are on course to beat their own record. However, Manchester United supporters won't enjoy discovering which team holds the record for the most post-85th minute goals in one Premier League season. That record is held by Manchester City's title-winning side of last year, who scored after the 85th minute an incredible 16 times. Those famous injury-time goals by Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero on the final day against QPR saw them overtake the record of the Chelsea side of 2009/10, who'd managed 15 late goals in that season. Most post-85th minute goals in a single Premier League season (league games only):
| Team | Season | Goals |
| Manchester City | 2011/12 | 16 |
| Chelsea | 2009/10 | 15 |
| Arsenal | 2008/09 | 13 |
| Chelsea | 2001/02 | 13 |
| Liverpool | 2008/09 | 13 |
| Arsenal | 2009/10 | 12 |
| Arsenal | 2007/08 | 11 |
| Everton | 2009/10 | 11 |
| Leeds | 1993/94* | 11 |
| Manchester United | 2007/08 | 11 |
| Southampton | 1994/95* | 11 |
LEAGUE UPSETS
Hi Martin, QPR's victory at Stamford Bridge must be the biggest upset of the season so far, but I was wondering how it rates historically, particularly if QPR are relegated. Although this would potentially be the second consecutive season that an eventual top-three team lost at home to an eventual bottom-three team (with Blackburn winning at Old Trafford last season), it seems like this would be a rare occurrence overall. So my questions are: How many times has a team that went on to be relegated won away against a team that finished in the top three? Has the champion ever lost at home to a relegated team, and if not, what was the biggest home upset against a champion, in terms of the victorious opponent's final place in the table and in terms of points differential? Thanks, Doug Jackson MARTIN SAYS: You're right. It is extremely rare to see a team that eventually finished in the bottom three win away against a team that eventually finished in the top three. In fact it has only happened TWICE in Premier League history. The most recent occurrence was the one you mention above from last season when Manchester United, who eventually finished second, were beaten 3-2 at home by Blackburn Rovers, who eventually finished 19th. The only other example came on November 22, 1997 when Barnsley won 1-0 at Liverpool. The Tykes would finish 19th and be relegated that season, while their opponents finished third. To answer you other question, we turned to the boffins at Opta and they calculated the biggest home defeats for a team in their Premier League winning season in terms of the final league position of their opponents. No eventually-relegated side has ever won away at the eventual champions, but there have been a couple of instances of a team finishing one place above the drop zone after beating the eventual title winners. Once such instance came in May 2001 when Manchester United lost 1-0 at home to Derby County. United had already sealed the title by that stage and so may not have been too concerned to lose to a Derby team that ultimately finished 17th. The result, in fact, helped to condemn Manchester City to relegation that season. The other example came in September 2002 when Manchester United lost 1-0 at home to Bolton. Sir Alex Ferguson's side would go on to lift the title later that year, while the three points would ultimately help ensure Bolton's survival as they finished one place - and two points - above the relegation zone. If you're looking for the biggest points differential, that came in 2006/07 when West Ham famously won 1-0 at champions Manchester United on the final day of the season. The Hammers finished 48 points behind their opponents and while Carlos Tevez's goal famously sealed their safety at the expense of Sheffield United, it also lifted West Ham into 15th place. Home defeats by eventual Premier League champions against eventually-low ranked sides (38-game seasons only):
| Date | Result | Opponent's final position | Points differential |
| 05/05/01 | Man Utd 0-1 Derby | 17 | 38 |
| 11/09/02 | Man Utd 0-1 Bolton | 17 | 39 |
| 13/05/07 | Man Utd 0-1 West Ham | 15 | 48 |
| 04/05/01 | Arsenal 2-4 Charlton | 14 | 43 |
| 05/04/97 | Man Utd 2-3 Derby | 12 | 29 |
SOUTH AMERICAN STARS
Hi Martin, just wondering if Luis Suarez is the most prolific South American attacker to play in the Premier League era, in terms of goals to games ratio. Matt Watson MARTIN SAYS: According to our statistics, Matt, he's actually the second most prolific. We asked Opta to list all South American players to have scored 10 or more Premier League goals and the 22 names they gave us are listed below. As you can see, Carlos Tevez has the most goals with 80, ahead of Gus Poyet on 54 and Nolberto Solano on 49, but none of those players have the best goals-per-game ratio. That honour in fact belongs to Sergio Aguero. The Manchester City striker has hit 31 goals in just 52 games, a ratio of 0.60 goals per game. You'll notice that Suarez is second on the list. He's scored 30 Premier League goals, one short of Aguero's current tally, but he's played 12 more games. His ratio of 0.47 goals per game - almost one in two - is still highly impressive. Goals per game record of South American players in the Premier League (minimum 10 goals):
| Player | |||
| Sergio Aguero | 31 | 52 | 0.60 |
| Luis Suarez | 30 | 64 | 0.47 |
| Carlos Tevez | 80 | 187 | 0.43 |
| Hernan Crespo | 20 | 49 | 0.41 |
| Robinho | 14 | 41 | 0.34 |
| Roque Santa Cruz | 26 | 86 | 0.30 |
| Hamilton Ricard | 31 | 106 | 0.29 |
| Gustavo Poyet | 54 | 187 | 0.29 |
| Maxi Rodríguez | 15 | 57 | 0.26 |
| Carl Cort | 28 | 111 | 0.25 |
| Juan Pablo Angel | 44 | 175 | 0.25 |
| Afonso Alves | 10 | 42 | 0.24 |
| Juninho | 29 | 125 | 0.23 |
| Juninho | 14 | 62 | 0.23 |
| Hugo Rodallega | 26 | 131 | 0.20 |
| Geovanni | 14 | 79 | 0.18 |
| Nolberto Solano | 49 | 302 | 0.16 |
| Diego Forlan | 10 | 63 | 0.16 |
| Ramires | 10 | 77 | 0.13 |
| Franco Di Santo | 12 | 107 | 0.11 |
| Gilberto Silva | 17 | 170 | 0.10 |
| Antonio Valencia | 17 | 170 | 0.10 |
DREAM DEBUTS
Dear Martin. Like the column. As a Liverpool fan, I was delighted that Sturridge scored so quickly on his debut vs Mansfield Town. With his goal just inside seven minutes, it got me wondering about debut goals. What is the fastest debut goal ever scored by a player for a Premier League club (Sturridge's must have been quick-ish)? Indeed, has any player scored on multiple debuts for different clubs? Cheers, Henry Coates MARTIN SAYS: We've asked our friends at Opta about the quickest debut goals and while they can't do it for all competitions we can tell you about the swiftest debut goals in the Premier League. We've found 13 players who have scored inside the first three minutes of their first game for a Premier League club, including one player who scored within the first minute of a debut appearance. That man is David Healy, who netted 50 seconds into his Fulham career on the opening day of the season away at Arsenal in August 2007. Unfortunately for him, Robin van Persie and Alex Hleb scored in the last six minutes of the game to condemn the Cottagers to a 2-1 defeat. You'll also notice that Kepa of West Ham scored 70 seconds after coming on as a substitute against Liverpool back in 2007 - however it proved to be his only goal for the club in eight appearances!
| Date | Team | Player making debut | Minute on pitch scored in |
| 12/08/2007 | Fulham | David Healy | 1 |
| 30/01/2007 | West Ham | Kepa | 2 |
| 17/01/1999 | Charlton | Mark Bright | 2 |
| 21/10/2000 | Charlton | Mathias Svensson | 2 |
| 25/09/2010 | Blackpool | Matthew Phillips | 2 |
| 19/08/2006 | Portsmouth | Kanu | 3 |
| 19/08/2012 | Southampton | Steven Davis | 3 |
| 15/08/2009 | Man City | Emmanuel Adebayor | 3 |
| 17/08/1996 | Derby | Paul Simpson | 3 |
| 09/08/1997 | Chelsea | Tore Andre Flo | 3 |
| 14/11/1998 | Leeds | Alan Smith | 3 |
| 11/08/2007 | Blackburn | Roque Santa Cruz | 3 |
| 19/08/2006 | West Ham | Carlton Cole | 3 |
Stan Collymore (scored on debut for Forest, Liverpool, Bradford)
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (scored on debut for Leeds, Chelsea, Middlesbrough)
Djibril Cisse (scored on debut for Liverpool, Sunderland, QPR)
Mido (scored on debut for Spurs, Middlesbrough, Wigan)
Darren Bent (scored on debut for Charlton, Sunderland, Aston Villa)
Emmanuel Adebayor (scored on debut for Arsenal, Man City, Spurs) I'm at Old Trafford on Sunday to see if Daniel Sturridge can do similar on his Premier League debut. MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
Hi Martin. I saw a statistic on Sky Sports News earlier that said that Luis Suarez has netted 35% of Liverpool's goals in all competitions so far this season. A lot is made about teams and their reliance on strikers sometimes, and I was just wondering how this percentage compares when looking at the top scorers for each Premier League club - is 35% high? Also, is there any statistic available for the team who have had the striker with the highest proportion of their total goals in a single season? My guess could be Benni McCarthy while at Blackburn or Marcus Stewart at Ipswich! Andy, St Albans MARTIN SAYS: Luis Suarez has netted 19 of Liverpool's 56 goals in all competitions this season, which means he has scored 34% of their goals. This is the third highest ratio for a single player in the Premier League this season, although this rises to 44% when only Premier League goals are included. However, there are two players who have scored an even greater percentage of their club's goals. The first is Michu, who has netted 15 of Swansea's 43 goals in all competitions this term. That means he's scored 34.8% of their goals this season and 42% of their league goals. But the man who has scored the highest percentage of his team's goals this season is Demba Ba. He has scored 13 of Newcastle's 37 goals, which means he has got 35.1% of their goals in all competitions and an incredible 48% of their league goals. I hope this statistic doesn't upset Newcastle fans too much after seeing him move to Chelsea last week! According to the statistics, of all the Premier League clubs, Norwich share their goals out the most. Their top scorer is Robert Snodgrass, who has scored just 15% of their goals. Premier League top scorers for each club and the % of club's total goals scored in 2012/13 (includes goals scored in Premier League, domestic cups, Europe, Super Cup and World Club Cup):
| Team | 2012/13 Top Scorer | % of Total (all comps) |
| Newcastle | Ba | 35% |
| Swansea | Michu | 35% |
| Liverpool | Suarez | 34% |
| Sunderland | Fletcher | 30% |
| Man Utd | Van Persie | 28% |
| Aston Villa | Benteke | 27% |
| Tottenham | Defoe | 26% |
| Stoke | Walters | 25% |
| Southampton | Lambert | 24% |
| West Brom | Long | 23% |
| Arsenal | Walcott | 21% |
| Fulham | Berbatov | 21% |
| Everton | Fellaini | 20% |
| Wigan | Gomez, Koné | 19% |
| Reading | Le Fondre, Pogrebnyak | 19% |
| Man City | Aguero, Dzeko | 19% |
| Chelsea | Torres | 18% |
| QPR | Cisse, Taarabt, Zamora | 17% |
| West Ham | Nolan | 17% |
| Norwich | Snodgrass | 15% |
| Season | Team | Player | Goals | Team goals | Total of % (PL only) |
| 2009/2010 | Sunderland | Darren Bent | 24 | 48 | 50% |
| 2011/2012 | Arsenal | Robin van Persie | 30 | 74 | 41% |
| 2007/2008 | Man Utd | Cristiano Ronaldo | 31 | 80 | 39% |
| 2006/2007 | Charlton | Darren Bent | 13 | 34 | 38% |
| 2007/2008 | Blackburn | Roque Santa Cruz | 19 | 50 | 38% |
| 2007/2008 | Liverpool | Fernando Torres | 24 | 67 | 36% |
| 2011/2012 | Blackburn | Yakubu | 17 | 48 | 35% |
| 2011/2012 | Fulham | Clint Dempsey | 17 | 48 | 35% |
| 2006/2007 | Blackburn | Benni McCarthy | 18 | 52 | 35% |
LEFT ON THE BENCH
Hi Martin and Opta Guys. Great column and keep it up. I'm a big stats man so I love it. My question is a simple, but tricky one. I want to know since the Premier League started who holds the record for being the most times unused substitute over their career? I would imagine it to be a sub keeper. Happy New Year, Tommy Walton MARTIN SAYS: Hi Tommy. The answer to your question is Steve Harper. According to our data, the Newcastle goalkeeper has been an unused substitute in a jaw-dropping 316 Premier League matches. The only other player to have left on the bench more than 200 times in the Premier League is Carlo Cudicini. Here is a list of 10 goalkeepers who have been unused substitutes on more than 150 occasions in the Premier League: Steve Harper (316)
Carlo Cudicini (239)
Carlo Nash (195)
Stuart Taylor (193)
Steve Simonsen (191)
Mike Pollitt (180)
Tomasz Kuszczak (178)
Kevin Poole (159)
Neil Moss (156)
Ross Turnbull (156)
