Martin Tyler's stats and facts: Most goals from the bench and longest runs without back-to-back wins

This week Martin Tyler's stats and facts column looks at who has the most goals from the bench this season and clubs' longest runs without back-to-back wins.

Send your questions to Martin

1. Use the feedback form at the bottom of this page.

2. Tweet @SkyFootball using the hashtag #TylersTeasers

Martin’s Starting Stats

I was at West Ham v Manchester United on Sunday to witness only the second time in 13 league games that West Ham have avoided defeat against Manchester United; the other occasion was a 2-2 draw in April 2013. Manchester United have won the other 11 meetings in that period.

There were lots of birthdays around the game. Adnan Januzaj was 20 on the Thursday before the game and made his 50th Man Utd appearance, Radamel Falcao turned 29 two days after the game and Angel Di Maria will be 27 on Valentine’s Day.

Robin Van Persie had scored in his six previous games against West Ham, but didn’t score this time on his 100th Manchester United appearance. The game was Antonio Valencia’s 300th appearance in English club football.

Alex Song received a yellow card for the eighth consecutive game against Man United.

Sam Allardyce still hasn’t beaten Manchester United in a home game as a manager, despite having on the pitch a player who scored in his only two wins over Man Utd. Kevin Nolan scored in wins at Old Trafford in 2001 and 2002 when they were together at Bolton.

Daley Blind repeated his feat from October at West Brom with a late equaliser. That was his only other Premier League goal.

Can I play you every week?

Branislav Ivanovic has an amazing goals record against Aston Villa. Which defender has got the most Premier League goals against one particular club? (Jack, Greenwich)

MARTIN SAYS: With the help of our friends at Opta, I can tell you Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic actually now shares the record for the most Premier League goals scored by a defender against one team following his brilliant strike against Aston Villa on Saturday, the fifth time he has scored against them in just 10 contests.

Alongside the right back on that total are both Joleon Lescott, who has also netted five Premier League goals against Aston Villa (his boyhood club) in 11 matches, and Dan Petrescu, who scored five times against Wimbledon in 13 fixtures. Ivanovic has the best goals-per-game ratio of the three.

Meanwhile, there are seven defenders with four goals to their name against one side, including Neil Ruddock (in 11 games) and Gareth Southgate (in 18 games) against Leeds, Thomas Vermaelen (v Wigan in 5 games), Ryan Taylor (v Newcastle in 10 games), Paul Scharner (v Everton in 8 games), Ian Harte (v Derby in 10 games) and Liam Ridgewell (v Sunderland in 12 games). It’s worth pointing out that Southgate, Scharner and Taylor have played in midfield, however.

Just champion

Man City have failed to win in four consecutive Premier League games – has a team ever failed to win in four back-to-back Premier League matches and still gone on to win the title at the end of the season? (Sarah, Barnsley)

MARTIN SAYS: Remarkably, Manchester United went on a seven-game winless run between September and November in the first ever Premier League season (1992-93) against Tottenham (D), QPR (D), Middlesbrough (D), Liverpool (D), Blackburn (D), Wimbledon (L) and Aston Villa (L). That was a 42-game season, however.

They went from September 12 to November 21 without a win, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s side still went on to win the title that season by 10 points from Aston Villa.

Manchester United also failed to win five matches in a row in 1995-96 – against Nottingham Forest (D), Chelsea (D), Sheffield Wednesday (D), Liverpool (L), Leeds (L), only for Fergie’s men to pip Newcastle to the title by four points the following May.

So Manuel Pellegrini’s side should not lose heart after failing to win in their last four league matches against Everton (D), Arsenal (L), Chelsea (D) and Hull (D). Their next game is at Stoke on Wednesday night and the next home game is against Newcastle in a Saturday Night Football clash which I shall be commentating on. It will be interesting to see how they get on after defeats to Middlesbrough and Arsenal, plus a late draw with Hull.

Super subs

Which player has got the most goals and assists from the bench in the Premier League this season? (Richard, Coventry)

MARTIN SAYS: Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse has had the most impact from the substitutes’ bench this season with five Premier League goals. He scored two against Hull in a 2-2 draw in September; he scored twice from the bench in the 2-1 win over Chelsea in December and also scored a penalty in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United on Boxing Day.

Manchester City’s summer signing from Chelsea, Frank Lampard, is following close behind having netted four times coming off the bench. Those goals came against Chelsea, Hull, Southampton and Sunderland.

There are also a whole host of other players who have netted twice as substitutes this campaign, including Southampton’s Shane Long, Chelsea duo Loic Remy and Andre Schurrle, West Brom’s Brown Ideye, West Ham’s Morgan Amalfitano, Southampton’s Victor Wanyama, Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero.

And another City player, midfielder James Milner, is leading the way when it comes to the most assists as a substitute. He is the only player that Opta have credited with more than one assist as a substitute this season. He also came on and scored against Hull on Saturday.

Wins on the spin

Has a team even gone an entire season without winning back-to-back Premier League games? (Martin)

MARTIN SAYS: I assume you are asking this question as there are three teams – Hull, QPR and Sunderland – who have not won back-to-back matches in the league this season. Hull City have in fact gone 56 games since they won back-to-back in the Premier League. QPR have not done so in 33 games and Sunderland in 25.

However, they have a long way to go to match the Premier League record. Quite incredibly, Sunderland went 126 matches without recording consecutive Premier League victories between December 2001 and March 2008. They beat Everton and Blackburn over Christmas 2001 and didn’t record consecutive top-flight wins again until March 2008 when they beat Aston Villa and West Ham. That run covered seven seasons – although only four of them were in the Premier League.

Meanwhile, there are 20 clubs who have gone a whole Premier League campaign without managing successive wins, and some more than once!

Indeed, the likes of Leicester (1994-95 and 2001-02) Sunderland (1996-97 and 2002-03), Birmingham (2005-06 and 2007-08), Derby (2001-02 and 2007-08) and Middlesbrough (2001-02 and 2008-09) suffered that ignominy on two occasions.

And the other sides were Crystal Palace (1996-97), Blackburn (1998-99), Wimbledon (1999-00), Manchester City (2003-04), Wolves (2003-04), West Brom (2005-06), Watford (2006-07), Hull (2009-10), Portsmouth (2009-10), Wigan (2009-10), Aston Villa (2011-12), QPR (2011-12), West Ham (2012-13), Cardiff (2012-13) and Norwich (2013-14).

The late show

Villa haven’t scored in the last 15 minutes of a Premier League game this season. Is this some sort of record? (Casey, Birmingham)

MARTIN SAYS: No team has ever gone through a complete Premier League season without scoring in the last 15 minutes of a game, so Aston Villa could set an unwanted record if that continues in midweek. Their last goal in the last 15 minutes came when Fabian Delph scored an 82nd-minute winner against Chelsea last March.

The lowest number of goals recorded after the 75th minute of a complete season is three. Both Hull City and Barnsley managed to find the back of the net on just three occasions in the final 15 minutes of matches in the 2009-10 and 1997-98 seasons respectively.