The final countdown

Martin Tyler gives you a statistical take on Sunday's Carling Cup final between Spurs and Chelsea.

The season's first silverware is up for grabs in the Carling Cup final and Martin Tyler has the stats behind the match. Sky Sports' voice of football will not be in the commentary box at Wembley for Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea, with Alan Parry and Alan Smith the men on the mic. Jeff Stelling will be joined in the studio by former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp and former Tottenham and Chelsea midfielder and manager Glenn Hoddle. Martin's column will resume normal service next week, so start mailing your questions in. It could be on a side in the Premier League or Football League, international scene or European competitions - or it could be about an individual player or manager. If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply Email here and Martin will do his best to answer.

Tyler's Starting Stat - London calling

I won't be commentating at Wembley on Sunday afternoon - my colleague Alan Parry will be guiding you through the drama - but the Carling Cup final deserves its own stats special, I'm sure you'll agree. This is the 48th League Cup final and only the second time both finalists have come from the capital. The other occasion was of course last year at the Millennium Stadium when Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1. I guess you could say cup final London derbies are like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at once! In fact this will only be the fourth derby in a League Cup final, the others being last year, Birmingham-Aston Villa in 1963 and Liverpool-Everton in 1984. And it goes without saying that this is the first League Cup final at the new Wembley after seven years away. THE HEAD-TO-HEAD
Dear Martin, I can't wait for this weekend's Carling Cup final. It's great to see the mighty Spurs back at Wembley, where we belong! I was wondering if you could tell me if history is on our side and tell me our record against Chelsea in all cup competitions. I know that our league form against Chelsea has been terrible for what seems like ages but I am hoping that you can give me some better news from cup competitions. Cheers, Martin, Totteridge
MARTIN SAYS: Well Martin the cup form isn't quite as bad as the recent league form but Chelsea have the edge in this area too. Of 16 cup matches, FA or League under its various monikers, Chelsea have won seven, Tottenham five and there have been four draws. In the League Cup, Tottenham have only beaten Chelsea once and it is a game that I am sure you remember Martin because Spurs won 5-1 in the Carling Cup on January 23 at White Hart Lane back in 2002. Steffen Iversen, Tim Sherwood, Teddy Sheringham, Simon Davies and Sergei Rebrov were all on the scoresheet in a game that ended a staggering run of 27 matches, stretching back to 1990, in which Tottenham failed to beat Chelsea. But the last time they met in a final, Spurs did win. That came in the 1967 FA Cup final when they edged their London rivals 2-1. Mind you, the omens are still mixed because while we all know about Spurs winning something in a year that ends in a one, the best they can do when the year ends in an eight is promotion back to the First Division in 1978.

THE HEAD-TO-HEAD IN CUPS
	Chelsea Win	Draw	Spurs Win
Overall	7	4	5
League Cup	3	2	1
FA Cup	4	2	4

SEEING RED
Martin, I know there was three players sent off in last year's final, but how many players have been sent off in Carling Cup finals before? Who was the first? Paddy Sorrell
MARTIN SAYS: Well Paddy, since the final has been a one-off game (1967), sendings off have been few and far between, with last year's final actually doubling the tally. Those three players you mention were of course Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure of Arsenal and John Obi Mikel of Chelsea but before that in 30 finals there had only been three red cards shown. The first man to receive his marching orders was perhaps an unlikely candidate in Andrei Kanchelskis who was dismissed for handball in the 1994 final, which Manchester United lost 3-1 to Aston Villa. Another five years on and Tottenham's Justin Edinburgh was dismissed for two bookable offences as his side beat Leicester 1-0 and then the following year, Tranmere's Clint Hill was also sent off against Leicester. This time it was for raising his hands to Robbie Savage and unlike the previous year, his side lost the final, 1-0.GUNNING FOR GLORY
I'm an Arsenal fan and I have a feeling that the team that knocks us out of the League Cup usually goes on to win it. Can you tell me if this is true? I really hope not because I couldn't bear it if Spurs won on Sunday. Mind you, I won't exactly be popping the champers if Chelsea do either. Lee
MARTIN SAYS: If you go back to the last time Arsenal won the competition, which was in 1993, then seven of the 14 winners since then have indeed knocked the Gunners out during their successful cup campaign. Usually if a team knocks Arsenal out and reaches the final then they go on to lift the cup. The only time that hasn't happened in the last 15 years was in 2006 when Wigan beat the Gunners in the semi-finals and lost the final to Manchester United. So perhaps the omens are good for Spurs! Just in case that didn't make sense

GUNNING FOR LEAGUE CUP GLORY
YEAR	BEAT ARSENAL	EVENTUAL WINNERS
2006-07	Chelsea	Chelsea
2005-06	Wigan	Man Utd
2004-05	Man Utd	Chelsea
2003-04	Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough
2002-03	Sunderland	Liverpool
2001-02	Blackburn	Blackburn
2000-01	Ipswich	Liverpool
1999-00	Middlesbrough	Leicester
1998-99	Chelsea	Tottenham
1997-98	Chelsea	Chelsea
1996-97	Liverpool	Leicester
1995-96	Aston Villa	Aston Villa
1994-95	Liverpool	Liverpool
1993-94	Aston Villa	Aston Villa

FINAL FLOPS
Martin, I fear the worst as usual when we play Chelsea, but I was wondering - what is the heaviest defeat in a League Cup final? I don't want to be pessimistic, but I want to be prepared to defend myself if it all goes pear-shaped! Razor Roberts
MARTIN SAYS: Well Razor, you will be pleased to know that down the years the League Cup final tends to be a closely-contested affair without too many one-sided scorelines at least. In fact, even when there were two legs to the final the biggest single margin of success came in 2006 when Manchester United beat Wigan 4-0. And as I have mentioned earlier, Wigan are the only side in the last 15 years to have knocked Arsenal out and made it to the final only to lose. Before that the biggest margin was 3-0, recorded by Oxford United against Queens Park Rangers in 1986 and Aston Villa at the expense of Leeds United in 1996. When the League Cup final was contested over two legs, Norwich City also recorded a 4-0 aggregate win back in 1962, when Rochdale were the losers. SHARP-SHOOTERS
Who is the all-time leading scorer in the League Cup competiton and more importantly, who has got the most goals in this season's competition? Graeme McCarthy
MARTIN SAYS: The all-time record for League Cup goalscoring is in fact shared by two men Graeme, both of them absolute legends of the game. The total is 49 and the two men in question are Sir Geoff Hurst and Ian Rush. Hurst - who funnily enough ended his England career with 49 caps - scored his goals between 1960 and 1975, with 43 coming in a West Ham shirt and six for Stoke. Rush who, with five, has the most League Cup winners' medals, scored 48 of his goals for Liverpool and added another for Newcastle over a 17-year period between 1981 and 1998. As for the top scorers in this year's competition, one player who is likely to be involved on Sunday does have a chance of claiming that honour. At the moment Chelsea's Frank Lampard is joint top scorer with four goals, along with Arsenal's Eduardo and Coventry's Michael Mifsud. Mind you, even if Lampard does make five goals, he is still way behind the all-time record of League Cup goals in a single campaign. That stands at 12 and belongs to Clive Allen, who is still part of the Spurs backroom staff. Clive's amazing haul came in the 1987 season when he bagged an incredible 49 goals and his side lost the FA Cup final to Coventry. BEST DEFENCE
Martin, I see that Spurs have only conceded two goals on the way to the final - is this some sort of record? Hannah Cooke
MARTIN SAYS: It is not an outright record Hannah, but if they can beat Chelsea to nil as it were on Sunday, they will equal the record which, ironically, is held by Chelsea! Last season Jose Mourinho's side conceded just one goal in their five games on the way to the Millennium Stadium showdown with Arsenal - that goal coming from Wycombe's Jermaine Easter in the first leg of the semi-final. Of course, the Blues conceded one to Theo Walcott in the final, but those two goals is still the least conceded by a side on their way to lifting the trophy. Funnily enough Walcott also scored one of the two goals Spurs have conceded on the way to this season's final, the other coming from another Arsenal man Emmanuel Adebayor in the semi-final legs. Before that the least goals conceded by the winners was three, by Leeds United (1967-68), Tottenham (1970-71) and Aston Villa (1995-96). LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
Martin, who has won the Carling Cup down the years the most times? My friend reckons Spurs but I say Chelsea... can you put us right. Dennis Adebrobi
MARTIN SAYS: Dennis, I am sure there will be plenty of arguing between you and your friend between now and Sunday, so the least I can do is settle one of them! I am afraid if you are in the Spurs camp it's not good news because they have lifted the League Cup three times compared to Chelsea's four. Chelsea did it in 1965 (beat Leicester 3-2 in aggregate), 1998 (beat Middlesbrough 2-0), 2005 (beat Liverpool 3-2, aet) and of course last year (beat Arsenal 2-1). Spurs' wins to date are a little earlier with their first win coming in 1971 (beat Aston Villa 2-0), 1973 (beat Norwich City 1-0) and 1999 (beat Leicester 1-0). Leicester City have also won the trophy three times (1964, 1997, 2000), Nottingham Forest four (1978, 1979, 1989, 1990), Aston Villa five (1961, 1975, 1977, 1994, 1996) with Liverpool out in front with no fewer than seven wins (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003). Liverpool's record of four successive wins at the start of the 1980's remains a record, although Forest's four wins come from retaining the trophy twice. If Chelsea should win on Sunday, they will become only the third side to retain the trophy.