Martin Tyler's stats: Top-scoring defenders and successful tacklers

In his regular stats column, Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler looks at which defenders have netted the most, and who's the best bet for tackling...

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Martin’s starting stats

On Super Sunday, Steven Gerrard became only the seventh opponent to score against Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge this season – following Englishmen Jonjo Shelvey, Charlie Austin and Ben Mee plus Scot Charlie Adam, Spaniard David Silva and Serb Dusan Tadic. Plus John Terry scored an own goal for Swansea.

Jose Mourinho is slowly edging towards 200 home goals as Chelsea boss. His Chelsea sides have scored 199 in 97 matches with one home game to go this season.

I’ve been waiting for number 200 for a long time! In their home league games in 2015 the results have been 2-0 v Newcastle; 1-1 v Man City; 1-0 v Everton; 1-1- v Burnley; 1-1- v Southampton; 2-1 v Stoke; 1-0 v Man Utd; 1-0 v Crystal Palace and 1-1 v Liverpool.

As a follower of cricket history I was reminded of a famous quote “we’ll get them in singles”, said by George Hirst to Wilfred Rhodes in 1902 – it's now being said by Jose Mourinho to the rest of the world!

Will Mourinho finish on 72 goals again as he did in both of his previous Premier League title-winning seasons? They are on 70 with two games left.

Terry’s goal saw him eclipse David Unsworth’s record for goals from a defender with his 39th Premier League goal and his 65th for Chelsea in his 668th game (457 in the Premier League). He has equalled his best tally for a season of eight in all competitions. That leads us on to our first question…

Back to front

John Terry became the highest-scoring PL defender ever, but which defender has the most in one season? What about without penalties? (Chris, Liverpool)

MARTIN SAYS: Terry moved to 39 Premier League goals with his header against Liverpool on Super Sunday, meaning he overtakes David Unsworth at the top of the list. Ian Harte scored 28, while Leighton Baines is the only other current defender in the top five with 26, and William Gallas is one further behind.

Terry’s goal was his fifth in the league this season and he needs one more to match his highest tally of six back in 2011/12.

Only one defender has ever reached double figures in the Premier League, though, and that was West Ham’s Julian Dicks, who scored 10 goals for the Hammers back in 1995/96. He was also joint Premier League top scorer for the club that season, with Tony Cottee also netting 10.

Dicks took the penalties, though, and five of his goals came from the spot. Matthew Taylor was officially regarded as a defender in the 2008/09 season for Bolton, and he scored nine league goals with none of them being spot kicks. If you think Taylor – who regularly played further forward – doesn’t count, then Joleon Lescott netted eight for Everton in 2007/08 without scoring a penalty.

Marathon men

Which player has run the furthest total distance over the season? (Mark Knott)

MARTIN SAYS: Four players have cracked the 400-kilometre barrier so far this season. Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen is the marathon man with a total of 407.29km covered. To put that into context, as the crow flies it’s roughly 360km from White Hart Lane to Paris!

Below Eriksen, Burnley’s Scott Arfield (405.22km) and George Boyd (403.76km) are next, while Stoke midfielder Steven N’Zonzi (402.83) completes the 400 club.

Furthest distance covered (km)

Christian Eriksen – 407.29
Scott Arfield – 405.22
George Boyd – 403.76
Steven N’Zonzi – 402.83
Jake Livermore – 392.82
David Jones – 387.68
Jordan Henderson – 385.50
Nemanja Matic – 384.97
Jack Colback – 381.83
Cesc Fabregas – 380.00

In terms of averages, Boyd averages 11.88km per game which is the best out of the 10 players above. His team-mate Arfield (11.58km) is next, while Jack Colback (11.57km) and Cesc Fabregas (11.52km) are the only others averaging above 11.5km a game.

Man City have scored at least four in a game quite a few times – who’ s done it the most in one season? (Jamie P)

MARTIN SAYS: Sunday’s 6-0 victory over QPR was the sixth time Manchester City have registered four or more goals in a Premier League game this season. With just two games left, they’ll fall well short of their total of 11 from last season – a stat also matched by free-scoring Liverpool last term.

Manchester United feature heavily on the list, scoring four or more in 10 different league games in both 1999/00 and 2001/02. They also did it nine times in their title-winning season in 2007/08 – when Cristiano Ronaldo incidentally scored 31 goals – and they repeated that in 2009/10.

The champions that season, though, were Chelsea, who also scored 4+ goals on nine occasions. If City manage the feat in their remaining two games, they’ll match their tally of eight from the 2011/12 season when they of course won their first title.

Who is the best tackler in the Premier League? (Twesigye Ephraim)

MARTIN SAYS: Opta have looked at this for us and found some really interesting results. It perhaps doesn’t come as a big shock that Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic has won the most tackles (95), but next up is that man George Boyd again with 81.

Morgan Schneiderlin (79), Joel Ward (77) and Victor Wanyama make up the top five (75), but it looks like no one will catch up with Chelsea’s enforcer.

In terms of tackle success, though, things look a little different. Ruling out anyone who has won fewer than 25 challenges, Opta have revealed Nathan Dyer is the best bet to win a tackle, with the Swansea wide man enjoying a success rate of 89.29 per cent.

Charlie Adam (89.13%) of Stoke is close behind Dyer, with Leighton Baines (88.68%), Curtis Davies (88.57%) and Adam Lallana (88.37%) are also on the list.