Watch Defoe go

Martin Tyler answers your questions on Jermain Defoe's starts, England hat-tricks and more...

Jermain's flying starts continue at Portsmouth

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for the new season and will be here offering you statistical gems for the remainder of the campaign. 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 - Toffees back in time

I was at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday for what was Everton's first ever league game there. They played at Stoke's newest home in the 2002 FA Cup - Alan Stubbs scored in a 1-0 win - and on that day, the man that kept a clean sheet for the Toffees was involved again this time, because Steve Simonsen was on the home bench. You have to go all the way back to April 1985 for Everton's last visit to Stoke and the Victoria Ground, which was of course in the heyday of a certain Andy Gray. Goals from Graeme Sharp and Kevin Sheedy gave them a 2-0 win and Graeme came up to sit through our re-runs of the game with Andy - who was quick to point out the importance of his "decoy runs" on both goals. Funnily enough Everton used the long throws to good effect back then, with Gary Stevens pre-empting Rory Delap's touchline bombs. Back to Sunday and the one encouraging aspect for Stoke fans was their two goals means they have now scored in every Premier League game - seven in total - which is usually where the newly-promoted sides struggle. WATCH DEFOE GO
Martin, Jermain Defoe always seems to start off like a house on fire, which ever club he is at. I was wondering, how does his Pompey record compare to his other sides? Eric Downes
MARTIN SAYS: As well as being a smashing lad, Jermaine Defoe certainly does have a record of starting well at his clubs, and now has 12 Premier League goals in his first 16 appearances in a Portsmouth shirt. Before that he scored eight in his first 16 league games for Spurs, and four in the same time at West Ham. His West Ham time was of course punctured by a loan stint at Bournemouth where the goals again flowed, so much so that he bagged 13 in his first 16 league games and of course, set a league record for scoring in 10 consecutive games - which still stands today. Another impressive stat about Defoe's fast starts is that he has scored on his debut for all four of those clubs listed, as well as England Under-21's and on his first start for the full England side! RAFA AND HIS RIVALS
Martin, there were some stats flying around about Rafa's record against the other big three following the win over United. Just how has he done against United, Arsenal and Chelsea since taking over at Anfield? Stephen McTiernan
MARTIN SAYS: Saturday's win over Manchester United was Rafa Benitez's first Premier League win over Manchester United in seven attempts but cannot real cover up the fact that of the so-called big four, Liverpool have by far the worst record if you were to make a mini league featuring them, United, Chelsea and Arsenal. Up to the start of this season, Benitez had taken just 17 points from 24 games against those other three sides, winning four, drawing five and losing 15 of the clashes. Three of those wins have come against Arsenal and the other Chelsea - although they can at last add United to that list. Here's a table of the big four's mini league...

TEAM	P	W	D	L	PTS
Chelsea	24	12	8	4	44
Man Utd	24	13	5	6	44
Arsenal	24	6	8	10	26
Liverpool	24	4	5	15	17

A TRIO FROM THEO
Hello I am an Arsenal fan and have obviously been proud to see my new favourite number 14 score a hat-trick for England. Let me ask is Theo Walcott the youngest English player to ever score a competitive hat-trick for England's first 11? If not then who? It would be great to know, Stuart
MARTIN SAYS: Well Stuart, it would be wrong of this column to overlook young Theo's treble because he is indeed the youngest scorer of an England hat-trick full-stop. Competitive games or otherwise, at 19 years 178 days he has comfortably beaten his closest challengers and is also the only teenager to score a hat-trick for the full England side. The next youngest was Dixie Dean, who was 20 years and 109 days when he bagged three against Belgium - but Theo will do well to match Dean in one area, because the Everton striker went on to score another one 10 days later! Both of those games were friendlies and England's youngest hat-trick hero in a competitive match until Zagreb was Jimmy Greaves, who at 20 years and 242 days took home the match ball from a World Cup qualifier with Luxembourg in October 1960. MORE HAT-TRICK HEROICS
Hi Martin, I am a Liverpool fan from India, delighted with our win over Man Utd. My question is: So far we have seen three hat-tricks this season Agbonlahor, Defoe and Adebayor), Can you please let me know the maximum hat-tricks scored in a single season and the player who has scored the most? Yathen, Bangalore, India
MARTIN SAYS: Well Yathen, I am going to have to start by correcting you because Jermain Defoe has not scored a hat-trick this season. He has only scored three Premier League goals, the two against Middlesbrough and one against Everton. Just as an aside the Premier League have taken his second 'goal' away from him and credited Peter Crouch for the follow-up. So it makes two Premier League hat-tricks so far this season, which is only one short of the three we saw in the entire 2006-07 season season! The highest tally for a single Premier League campaign is 19, which we got in 1993-94 - when, don't forget, it was a 42-game season. As for the most Premier League hat-tricks scored by a single player in a season that record belongs to the league's all-time top scorer, Alan Shearer. In the 1995-96 season with Blackburn, Shearer scored an incredible five hat-tricks, against Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Bolton and Tottenham. THE NEXT BEST THING
Hi Martin, every year Spurs have always been touted as the team most likely to break the top four, but they have fallen short more often than not. Please tell me which team has finished consistently in the highest place outside of the top four since the Premiership began. Milton W. Brown, Kingston, Jamaica
MARTIN SAYS: It's always nice to get a question from the Caribbean Milton, but I am not quite sure what you are looking for exactly. But, I will answer it two ways which hopefully, between them, will give you the answer you were expecting. First of all I assume you mean top four, as in Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool? Well, one way of looking at this is since the Premier League began, Leeds United - who of course are no longer in the top flight - have had the most top five finishes with seven, although if you take top six finishes, Aston Villa and Newcastle join them with seven also. Spurs, who you mention, have only finished in the top five on two occasions - fifth in 2005-06 and 2006-07. One other indicator to the Premier League's most successful sides is the all-time points table which has Aston Villa in fifth behind the four clubs we are excluding. Having been ever-present in the Premier League, Villa have amassed 884 points from 624 games, with Manchester United (1,323 from 623), Arsenal (1,137 from 624), Chelsea (1,108 from 624) and Liverpool (1,085) all breaking into four figures. So on that basis, Villa are the most consistent performers outside the top four, although with teams like Leeds not being in the Premier League anymore, it is very hard to gauge average finishes. I hope that helps. Got a question for Martin? Use the email link at the top of the page or the ffedback form below...