Exporting excellence - Tyler

Martin reveals the best British goalscoring export in his weekly stats and facts column.

The Sky Sports football team - led by commentator Martin Tyler and his first-class back-up crew of researchers and statisticians - pride themselves on being the best in the business.

This is your chance to use some of our expertise! Every Monday Martin will be on hand to answer your statistical posers and put the record straight where required.

You can e-mail us with any statistical questions - and we will do our best to publish the answers on the website. 

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TYLER'S SUPER SUNDAY STAT - United's way in front

Manchester United have not lost after scoring first in a Premiership match for almost three years. The last time they went ahead but ended up on the losing side was on November 25, 2001, when Paul Scholes put them ahead at Highbury, only for Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry (2) to turn the game on it's head on a Sunday afternoon best remembered for two Fabien Barthez blunders. The remarkable sequence now stands at 79 games, 71 one of which United have won, with eight ending in draws.

NINE'S FINE FOR A RECORD
Tottenham 4 Arsenal 5... what a game! There were nine goals from nine different players. Is this a Premiership record? I can't think of any game with so many scorers. I can only think of two games with nine goals, Man Utd putting nine past Ipswich, and I think there was a 5-4 involving Southampton.
Chris Johnston, Lincoln
MARTIN SAYS: Well Chris you are right, Saturday's amazing north London derby did set a new record for the most scorers in a Premiership game with nine. It was the eighth time two teams have shared nine goals since the Premiership began, but of the previous seven occasions occasions, the best was eight different scorers. That came on February 12, 2000, when West Ham beat Bradford 5-4 with Trevor Sinclair, John Moncur, Paolo di Canio, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard scoring for the Hammers and Dean Windass, Peter Beagrie and Jamie Lawrence with two, replying for the Bantams. Of the other nine-goal games here they are and how many scorers they involved. 1993-94 - Norwich 4-5 Southampton (six scorers); 1994-95 - Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich (four scorers); 1996-97 - Southampton 6-3 Manchester United (six scorers); 1997-98 - Blackburn 7-2 Sheffield Wednesday (six scorers); 1998-99 - Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United (four scorers); 1999-2000 - Tottenham Hotspur 7-2 Southampton (six scorers).

ONE FOR THE TREBLE
Hi Martin, firstly, you have given me so much joy and insight into the beautiful game I just want to say thank you. Having followed Chelsea since the glory days of Osgood, Harris, and co, I always felt like the team were the classic blind date - you never knew who'd take the pitch. As you can imagine, I am still getting used to the idea that we are chasing a domestic treble and a European Champions League title. Can you tell me the last time (if ever) an English team won a domestic treble?
Michael Barnard, New South Wales
MARTIN SAYS: Thank you for the kind words Michael and I agree with your sentiments about Chelsea. I am always reminded of the old music hall joke of 'there only three things in life you can be certain of - death, taxes and Chelsea letting you down! However, it does seem that all that may change with, as you say, Jose Mourinho's side hunting silverware on all three domestic fronts having found the sort of consistency that has been missing at Stamford Bridge in recent years. I can confirm that no English team has achieved the domestic treble though. Liverpool of course won three trophies in 2001, the FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Cup and Manchester United famously did the treble in 1999, of the League, the FA Cup and the Champions League. But no side has won the league championship, the FA Cup and the League in the same year... yet!

COLE THE GOAL AGAIN
Hi Martin, I know Andy Cole has scored against all 20 clubs in this season's Premiership. Has he scored against all the clubs that have appeared in the Premiership since 1992 e.g Swindown, Barnsley, Bradford etc? Many thanks.|
Simon Porch
MARTIN SAYS: Well Simon, first of all thanks for reading the column and I have to say how nice it is to get a follow-up question to a previous answer. Andy Cole's goalscoring exploits since the Premiership began are often overlooked but, as regular readers will know, have long been a constant topic on these pages! Since the Premiership began, there have been 38 different clubs in it and of those 38, Andy has managed to find the net against 37 of them. The one team denying him a clean sheet are Swindon Town. The Robins were in for the inaugural season in 1992-93 and in two games against them Cole did not score. Of the other one-time Premiership sides now plying their trade further down the league ladder, Andy managed one apiece against QPR and Sheffield united, but scored 10 in six games against Ipswich, thanks largely to the five goals he got in Manchester United's 9-0 win in the 1993-94 (see above).

DENIS AT THE DOUBLE
Hello Martin, I was wondering if any of the Manchester United team involved in the 1991 Cup Winner's Cup team were still around for the 1999 European cup triumph?
James O'Sullivan, Crawley
MARTIN SAYS: Good question James!But after thumbing through various yearbooks, I can tell you that Denis Irwin did indeed play in both games. Denis was in the side that went to Rotterdam on May 15, 1991, and beat Barcelona 2-1 thanks to a Mark Hughes double and was in the famous side that won the Champions League eight years later on May 26, 1999, ironically in Barcelona! But, he was the only player who's Old Trafford career featured those two winning finals. Here are the line-ups from both finals, James.
1991 Cup Winners Cup final: Sealey, Irwin, Blackmore, Bruce, Phelan, Pallister, Robson, Ince, McClair, Hughes, Sharpe. Subs: Wallace, Robins, Webb, Walsh, Donaghy
1999 Champions League final: Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Irwin, Johnsen, Stam, Butt, Beckham, Giggs, Blomqvist, Cole, Yorke. Subs: Sheringham, Solskjaer, Phile Neville, May, van der Gouw, Brown, Greening

GOALSCORING CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS
Dear Martin, can you tell us who holds the all-time goalscoring record for UEFA Champions League/European Champions' Cup? Do you think Ruud van Nistelrooy can break that record? Thanks a lot.
Christopher Leung, Hong Kong
MARTIN SAYS: I can't answer the second part Christopher, but with 41 goals in 45 Champions League appearances, you would expect the Dutchman to surpass the current record, barring any mishaps. The current number one goalscorer in the history of the European Cup and Champions League is the one and only Alfredo di Stefano who scored 48 competition goals in 58 appearances between 1955 and 1964 for Real Madrid. But the man most likely to set a new competition milestone is the current darling of the Bernabeu, Raul, who scored in the recent win over Dynamo Kiev to take his haul (all in the new format) to 48 in 94 games.

EXPORTING EXCELLENCE
Hi Martin, my question for you is this: of all the British players that have ventured overseas to play in foreign leagues, which player has scored the most goals?' I have a bet that Dalian Atkinson, formerly of the mighty Villa did NOT score the most foreign league goals.
Ross Amory, Cambridgeshire
MARTIN SAYS: Well Ross, I think I can safely say that is one bet you won't be losing! Dalian only spent one season in Spain, with Real Sociedad, where he did manage to score 12 goals in 26 league appearances, but is a surprise choice by your co-better for the best goalscoring export from these shores. There are a number of strikers who have taken their poaching instincts abroad, including Gary Lineker, Mark Hughes, Mark Hateley, Trevor Francis and Tony Woodcock. Of those, Lineker probably fared the best with 43 goals in his three seasons with Barcelona, while Hateley bagged 39 goals in six seasons abroad, three with AC Milan and three with AS Monaco. Woodcock netted 29 times in his three seasons in the Bundesliga with FC Cologne, but the best of the lot must surely be the late great John Charles. The gentle giant spent five years in Italy with Juventus, scoring an outstanding 108 goals in 155 games for the Old Lady. John, who was equally adept at centre-half, became a legend in Turin, where he was twice in the top three for the European Footballer of the Year. Perhaps the most fitting tribute to his goalscoring feats abroad came in 1997 when the Juventus fans voted him the best ever foreign player to have pulled on the black and white.