Import duty

Martin Tyler answers your questions on long-serving foreigners, footballing families and more...

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for 2008 and will be here offering you statistical gems for the remainder of the season. Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game. 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. Or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page....

Tyler's Starting Stat

As well as putting them back in the title race, Chelsea's victory over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge at the weekend strengthened their position as Manchester United's most successful Premier League opponent. Saturday's game was the 32nd meeting between the sides since the beginning of the 1992/3 season, and the 2-1 win was the Blues' 10th. The Londoners have also managed 13 draws with Alex Ferguson's side, have lost just nine times and have put more goals past United - 42 - than any other Premier League team. The clubs' overall figures since Jose Mourinho's arrival in the summer of 2004 make interesting reading, too. Both have played 150 league games since then, and here are the stats...

TEAM	PLAYED	WON	DRAWN	LOST	POINTS
Chelsea	150	106	32	12	350
Man Utd	150	100	30	20	330

Foreign legion

Hi Mr Tyler. Me and a friend were discussing who is the longest-serving foreigner still playing in the Premier League. We had a number of candidates but Patrik Berger, who came to England in 1996, was the best we could do. Has anyone been around longer than him? Thanks, Gurpreet Mudhar. MARTIN SAYS: Patrik Berger has certainly given sterling service to English football, Gurpreet. Liverpool brought him here in 1996, as you say, after he caught the eye playing for the Czech Republic in that summer's European Championship finals. He has since played for Portsmouth and Aston Villa, though he spent a brief spell out of the Premier League while on loan at Stoke last season. But there are two foreign players I can think of who have been in England longer and are still playing top-flight football here - both of them Australian: Harry Kewell joined Leeds as a 17-year-old in December '95 and played twice for the first team that season, with his debut coming against Middlesbrough on March 30 '96; Lucas Neill, meanwhile, joined Millwall - then as now in the third tier - in November '95 and made his debut against Luton on February 16 '96. Honourable mentions go to Dwight Yorke, who arrived at Aston Villa in 1992 and would run away with this one had he not spent 2005/6 in Australia; Kasey Keller and Dejan Stefanovic of Fulham, who both appeared in England before Berger but have not had unbroken spells here; and the likes of Mark Schwarzer, Brad Friedel, George Boateng and Luis Boa Morte, who have all been Premier League players for more than a decade.

Tight title race

Martin, with the title race looking like it could be decided on goal difference, I was just wondering when was the last time the top team finished on equal points and the title was decided by goal difference or goals scored? Keep up the good work! Matt, Newcastle. MARTIN SAYS: If Chelsea and Manchester United both win their two remaining games it is likely to be the first time the title has been decided on goal difference, Mark, though there have been five previous examples of the top two finishing on the same points. The most recent of those was in 1988/9, when Michael Thomas' injury-time winner at Anfield famously gave Arsenal the championship on goals scored. Both sides ened up with 76 points and a goal difference of +37, but the Gunners scored 73 goals to Liverpool's 65. Goal difference was not introduced as a deciding factor until the 1976/7 season. Before then, goal average was used, whereby the number of goals scored was divided by the number conceded. The title was decided like this four times, and the details are below...

SEASON	CHAMPIONS	RUNNERS-UP	POINTS	WINNING AVE.
1964/5	Man Utd	Leeds	61	2.282
1952/3	Arsenal	Preston	54	1.516
1949/50	Portsmouth	Wolves	53	1.947
1923/4	Huddersfield	Cardiff	57	1.818

Ade blazes trail

Hi Martin. Emmanuel Adebayor has scored home and away hat tricks against Derby this season, can you tell me if any other player has achieved this feat before in the Premier League? Thanks, Simon Gray. MARTIN SAYS: It's a good question, Simon, and according to my research Adebayor has indeed set a new record. His hat-trick against Derby at the Emirates on September 22 was his first for the club and the first Premier League hat-trick of the season, and he repeated the feat a Pride Park on April 28 after coming on as a second-half substitute. Perhaps the closest anyone came before Adebayor was Ian Wright, who scored a home hat-trick against Ipswich on April 15 1995, 14 months after he had hit three at Portman Road. Alan Shearer netted two trebles against West Ham in the calendar year 1995, but both those were at St James' Park.

Blues out in cold

Hello Martin, I read the column religiously and I've always wanted to send in a question - now I think I may have one. If Chelsea go on to win the Premier League surely they must be the first Premier League-winning team not to have a single player in the PFA Team of the Year? Mark, Blackburn Rovers fan. MARTIN SAYS: Thanks for the question, Mark, and keep reading the column! Chelsea, according to my records, would be the first team to win a title and not be represented in the Team of the Year, but there is a quirk in the voting process in that the ballot forms must be returned well before the season reaches a climax. Chelsea may have suffered for that this year. Some of their star performers - John Terry, Didier Drogba and, unusually, Frank Lampard - have been out injured for spells and are only really coming to the fore now. Of course, the same can be said of Chelsea as a team, and the presence of four Arsenal players reflects how the season was going when the votes were cast. Back in 2003, when Manchester United came up on the rails very late to take the title from Arsenal, Paul Scholes was their only representative in the Team of the Year. Similarly, when Dennis Bergkamp was the only Gunner to make the 1998 selection Arsenal had been off the pace until well after Christmas.

Footballing families

Hi Martin, just a quick question: Has there ever been three generations of professional footballers from the same family? Thanks, James Bunce. MARTIN SAYS: Two of football's most famous dynasties spring to mind, James: the Charltons and the Allens. Bobby and Jack Charlton had a grandfather on their mother's side, Tanner Milburn, who played in goal for Ashington during their Football League days in the 1920s. As well as daughter Cissie, Tanner had four sons who followed in his footsteps - Jack, George and Jimmy all played for Leeds, while Stan was on Chesterfield's books. Another famous Milburn in the family was, of course, Jackie - Cissie's cousin and still revered on Tyneside as one of Newcastle's greatest strikers. Then there are the Allens. Les Allen won the double with Tottenham in 1961 and his son, Clive, went on to score 49 goals for the club during the 1986/7 season. Clive's brother Bradley was also a professional, while his son Oliver failed to make the grade at West Ham and Birmingham but scored in his first four appearances for Barnet. And we haven't even mentioned the likes of Paul, Martin and Les' brother Dennis!