Hunting grounds

Where has the title been decided the most? Martin Tyler has that and many more stats and facts!

Grounds for success, one-man flops and low crowds

Martin Tyler's stats offers you statistical gems to make your day, impress your mates and, on occasion, to settle the odd bet and this week, lift the lid on a rivalry! Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical, historical, weird and wonderful from the beautiful game. If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email here he will do his best to help.

Tyler's Starting Stat - Champions! Champions! Champions!

Enough has been said about United's title win on Sunday, but in lifting their 18th league and 11th Premier League crown, they became the first club to claim two hat-tricks of wins. The three other clubs to have won back-to-back-to-back titles are Huddersfield Town (1924, 1925, 1926), Arsenal (1933, 1934, 1935) and Liverpool (1982, 1983, 1984), while United did it themselves in 1999, 2000 and 2001. But, as I am sure you are all aware that was only the second time they have won the Premier League at Old Trafford - more of that further down! In terms of individuals, United needed just a single point of course and got it but the 0-0 draw was only the third time this season they had failed to win a home league game; the others were the 1-1 draw with Newcastle on the opening day and of course, the 4-1 defeat by Liverpool. Sunday's game against Arsenal was also their first Premier League 0-0 at Old Trafford since the opening day of last season against Reading, and therefore the first time they had failed to score in a league game in front of their own fans since then. HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS
Martin. I was amazed to hear Richard Keys say that last Saturday was only the second time Man United have won the Premier League title at Old Trafford. I can remember them winning it at places like Middlesbrough and Wigan and my question is this. In the 17-year history of the Premier League, on which ground has the Premier League title been won most often? I know it's a toughie, but can you tell us the answer? Des
MARTIN SAYS: It is a tough one, Des and it was amazing to find Saturday was just the second time United have won the league in front of their own supporters. I can also tell you that of their 11 Premier League wins, five have been confirmed in United games, while the other six were wrapped up by results when they were either playing elsewhere at the time, or - in some instances memorably - watching on at home. The victories that United have won points to cement the title have come at Old Trafford twice, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Wigan. In terms of which ground has seen most titles won, it is a tie between Old Trafford and Highbury with three, although that is down to Sylvain Wiltord's winner sealing Arsenal's crown there back in 2001-02. Arsenal's own backyard has seen them christenend champions once when they beat Everton 4-0 in a "would you believe it?" win, and twice when they failed to win games, against Leeds and Middlesbrough, which handed United the title as well. The Emirates also played a part in giving United the title in 2006-07 when the Gunners were held by Chelsea and were unable to catch their arch rivals. Here is a list down the years of the grounds and games where the title has been won... or lost!

SEASON	CHAMPIONS	GROUND	HOW
92-93	Man Utd	Villa Park	Villa lost 1-0 at home to Oldham
93-94	Man Utd	Highfield Road	Blackburn lost 2-1 to Coventry
94-95	Blackburn	Upton Park	United drew 1-1 with West Ham
95-96	Man Utd	Riverside	United won 3-0 at Middlesbrough
96-97	Man Utd	Selhurst Park Upton Park	Liverpool lost 2-1 at Wimbledon Newcastle drew 0-0 at West Ham
97-98	Arsenal	Highbury	Arsenal won 4-0 at home to Everton
98-99	Man Utd	Old Traffford	Man Utd won 2-1 at home to Spurs
99-00	Man Utd	The Dell	Man Utd won 3-1 at Southampton
00-01	Man Utd	Highbury	Arsenal lost 3-0 at home to Boro
01-02	Arsenal	Old Trafford	Arsenal won 1-0 away at Old Trafford
02-03	Man Utd	Highbury	Arsenal lost 3-2 at home to Leeds
03-04	Arsenal	White Hart Lane	Arsenal drew 2-2 away to Spurs
04-05	Chelsea	The Reebok	Chelsea won 2-0 away to Bolton
05-06	Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	Chelsea won 3-0 at home to Utd
06-07	Man Utd	The Emirates	Arsenal drew 1-1 at home to Chelsea
07-08	Man Utd	JJB Stadium	Man Utd won 2-0 away to Wigan
08-09	Man Utd	Old Trafford	Man Utd drew 0-0 at home to Arsenal

STAND BY YOUR MAN
Martin, If Middlesbrough, Hull City and West Brom all get relegated this season, it appears as though they will stand by their respective managers. If they are indeed playing Championship football next season, will it be the first time in the Premiership's history that the three sides who go down all had only one manager during that season? Zoe, Dublin
MARTIN SAYS: What a very good question, Zoe! Of course it is all hyperthetical at this stage, although I will be at Villa Park on Sunday to see if Alan Shearer and Newcastle can make it become an actuality by staying up and helping condemn those three clubs you mention to the drop. If Boro, Hull and West Brom do slide through the Premier League trapdoor, they will have had the same managers, Gareth Southgate, Phil Brown and Tony Mowbray in charge all season long, but it will not be the first time in Premier League history. Back in 1993-94, the second season of the competition, Oldham, Swindon and Sheffield United were the clubs to drop out and all three of them had the same man in charge for their entire league campaign. Joe Royle, who of course is back at the club, was in charge of Oldham, John Gorman at Swindon and our good friend here at Sky Sports, Dave Bassett, was the Sheffield United manager. WALKING ALONE
Hi Martin, great column! Can you tell me the last time Liverpool weren't the lone record holders for number of top flight league titles and who held the record before them? Many thanks, Ian, Wigan
MARTIN SAYS: Thanks for the kind words, Ian! The least I can do is answer your question and tell you that up until Sunday, you had to go back to 1976 to find the last time Liverpool weren't title top dogs. Back then they won their ninth league championship, which took them one clear of Arsenal. The Anfield outfit had equallled their old north London foes' tally of eight in 1973 and the pair stood together at the summit of English football for three seasons. Then from 1976 until 2009, Liverpool fans always had something to crow about, despite not having won the Premier League. What is amazing Ian, is that when the Premier League began in 1992-93, United had only won the league title seven times and even stood behind Arsenal!SOME SEATS STILL AVAILABLE
Martin, could you please clear something up for myself and the rest of the Middlesbrough supporters. We constantly hear stick from 'pundits' on Sky Sports and other football programs having digs at the Middlesbrough fans because of "all" the empty seats in the stadium, yet in the next sentence they go on about how great support Stoke, Pompey, Wigan etc have. Having watched two wins out of the last 25, we have surely still averaged around 26,000 at home attendances this season, where does this stand with the other clubs in the Premiership, obviously discounting the big four! Many thanks, Matthew, Middlesbrough Fan
MARTIN SAYS: Well Matthew, far be it for me to go against the so-called pundits, or indeed the Middlesbrough fans, not least in these times of financial crisis. Without wanting to sit on the fence, you and the pundits are both right. For a start, Middlesbrough have a decent average attendance of 28,249, this season. But it is all relative and I think the size of the Riverside has to be taken into account. According to the Premier League website, Boro's home ground holds 35,100 - and in fact they are 12th in average attendance and stadium capacity. Crucially that means on average, they fill up the Riverside 80.9 per cent. But Matthew, that is not the worst in the Premier League by some way, because Wigan can only boost 73.1 per cent of a full house on average and Blackburn 73.4. Here's the bottom five as it were in terms of the number of tickets sold, on average, in league games this season.

TEAM	CAPACITY	AVERAGE	PERCENTAGE
Bolton Wanderers	27,879	22,486	81.9%
Sunderland	49,000	40,041	81.7%
Middlesbrough	35,100	28,429	80.9%
Blackburn Rovers	31,367	23,206	73.4%
Wigan Athletic	25,138	18,387	73.1%

LOWEST BUT HIGHEST
Hi Martin, I was looking at the Golden Espadrille section of the Soccer AM website and couldn't help but notice a lack of Premier League players. It has not exactly been a season of high-scoring, so I was wondering... is this season going to be the lowest for high scorers, if you know what I mean? Eddie Marston
MARTIN SAYS: I know what you mean, Eddie! It is quite a pertinent point as well because as we head into Survival Sunday, Nicholas Anelka and Cristiano Ronaldo are level on 18, which is in fact the lowest total we've seen from the Premier League's own Golden Boot winner. That tally has been registered before and on both occasions, it was done so by three players simultaneously. Back in 1998-99, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Leeds), Michael Owen (Liverpool) and Dwight Yorke (Man Utd) all finished with 18 while a year earlier, Dion Dublin (Coventry), Chris Sutton (Blackburn) and Owen again, did the same. Now there's every chance Ronaldo will not be playing this weekend and he's on 18, Anelka is on 18 and could be rested ahead of the cup final, so two more from Gerrard may well see another three players tied on that same total!

Tyler's Teaser

Martin I love the column and especially love the tests you take at the end. My teaser is: how many players in the Premier League can you name, that have played in a World Cup final with their countries, but none of them from the 'big four' teams. I got 11 - and I'll even start you off. Djorkaeff (Bolton). Are you up for it?
Stephen Costello, Manchester United fan
MARTIN SAYS: Yes Stephen, me and my team of trusty helpers on skysports.com are always up for it. Here are the 11 you asked for - we could find no more - starting with your helping hand: Youri Djorkaeff (Bolton), Jurgen Klinsmann (Tottenham), Christophe Dugarry (Birmingham), Marco Matterazzi (Everton), Juninho (Middlesbrough), Branco (Middlesbrough), Roque Junior (Leeds), Christian Karembeu (Middlesbrough), Stephane Guivarch (Newcastle), Dino Baggio (Blackburn) and Nicola Berti (Tottenham). There you go! If we got some that you didn't, or vice versa, please mail in and let us know.