Head for heights

Top headers, Champions League omens, title deciders and Big Four movers. Martin Tyler is back!

Away-day scorers, biggest improvements and much more...

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 - O'Shea's Day

Wednesday night at Old Trafford was the first time in seven that Arsenal had lost the first leg of a two-legged European semi-final. That loss came of course, courtesy of John O'Shea's second goal in 60 Champions League games on the eve of his 28th birthday. O'Shea's goal also left Arsenal stuck on 99 wins in all European competitions and 49 in the Champions League and took United off 747 wins - a 'jumbo' achievement, I'm sure you'll agree! It also stretched United's unbeaten run in the competition to 24 games, 15 of them wins; but I should remind supporters of both sides that the last time Sir Alex Ferguson's men lost in the Champions League was in a semi-final second leg, which they took a one-goal advantage into it. That was back in 2007, when they lost 3-0 in AC Milan in the San Siro.LEG-UP FOR UNITED
Dear Martin. I hope this question gets to you in time for this week's stats article. I am pleased that my team Manchester United beat Arsenal in the first leg and I was wondering if this bodes well for them reaching the Champions League final. How many times has a team won the first leg of a Champions League semi-final and not made it to the final? Darren
MARTIN REPLIES: In the 14 seasons since the introduction of two-legged semi-finals in 1994-95, there have been 28 Champions League semi-finals completed. Looking at the results for first legs, there have 10 draws, thus 18 first legs produced winners. Of the 18 teams that won their first legs, 14 went on to reach the final. So in effect 78% of the sides that have won the first leg have gone on to win the tie overall. However, Manchester United are one of the four teams to miss out when leading in the first leg. In the 2006/07 competition they beat AC Milan 3-2 at Old Trafford, but lost the second leg 3-0 at the San Siro to miss out. In the same season Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg, only to eventually go out on penalties at Anfield. The other two teams to throw away first leg leads are Real Madrid, who beat Juventus 2-1 in the first leg of their semi-final in 2003, but lost the second leg 3-1. And finally in 1995/96, Panathinaikos beat Ajax 1-0 in their first leg, but lost 3-0 in the second. HEAD BOYS
Hey Martin, I hail from Pakistan and I love your column. I would like to ask a question related to headers. I wanted to ask you three things. 1. How many headers have been scored in the Premier League this season? 2. Which team has scored most of those headers? 3. Which player has scored the most headers this season? I hope you can help me. Hoping to see your answer. Best regards, Qasim
MARTIN REPLIES: The two headed goals scored by Blackburn last Sunday were the 154th and 155th in the Premier League this season. The team which has had the most success with headers is Everton, who've scored 14 headed goals in the Premier League - just ahead of Hull City and Stoke City who've scored 13 apiece. The team with the worst record is Middlesbrough, who've scored just one Premier League header all season - Jeremie Aliadiere against Arsenal in December. In terms of players, Peter Crouch is head and shoulders above the rest with seven headed goals. Next on the list are Tim Cahill and Kevin Davies with six each. Here are some tables from Opta to make things clearer. Headed goals in the Premier League (team): Everton (14)
Hull City, Stoke City (13)
Arsenal, Liverpool (11)
Aston Villa, Bolton, Chelsea, Portsmouth (10)
Blackburn, Newcastle (9)
Sunderland, Manchester United (7)
Tottenham Hotspur (5)
West Ham (4)
Manchester City, West Brom, Wigan (3)
Fulham (2)
Middlesbrough (1) Headed goals in the Premier League (player): Peter Crouch, Portsmouth (7)
Tim Cahill, Everton (6)
Kevin Davies, Bolton (6)
John Carew, Aston Villa (5)
Fernando Torres, Liverpool (5)
Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal (5)
Ricardo Fuller, Stoke City (4)
Frank Lampard, Chelsea (4) HAVING IT AWAY
Dear Martin. I'm sure Darren Bent's a different player when he's not playing at White Hart Lane. I'm a Tottenham season ticket holder and I've hardly seen him score a goal at home this season - and yet he's in top 10 Premier League goalscorers. Has he scored more away goals than anyone else this season? Gregory Charlton (Spurs fan)
MARTIN SAYS:Thanks to our friends at Opta, I can tell you that Darren Bent has scored nine of his 12 Premier League goals (75%) away from home this season, making him the joint top away goalscorer with Nicolas Anelka, who has also scored nine (60% of his 15 league goals). They are both two goals clear of Amr Zaki, Fernando Torres and Matt Taylor who have all netted seven times on the road. I have outlined the top away goalscorers below. Note that the Premier League's top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, is missing from that list. He has scored 17 times in the league this season, but remarkably he has only scored in one away game - a brace against West Brom in January. The Premier League's top away goalscorers: Nicolas Anelka, Chelsea (9)
Darren Bent, Tottenham (9)
Amr Zaki, Wigan (7)
Fernando Torres, Liverpool (7)
Matt Taylor, Bolton (7)
Tim Cahill, Everton (6)
Frank Lampard, Chelsea (6)
Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal (6)
Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool (6) A WORLD OF HAT-TRICKS
Dear Martin. I enjoyed reading your stats about Andrey Arshavin last week, but there was something else I'd be intrigued to know. Is Arshavin the first Russian to score a hat-trick in the Premier League. I'd also be interested to discover which nationality (apart from England) holds the record for most hat-tricks in the Premier League. Thanksyou, Devasish Goswami
MARTIN SAYS: Hi Devasish. To answer your first question, I believe Arshavin is the first player born in Russia to score a Premier League hat-trick, but not the first Russian international to do so. Another Andrei, the former Manchester United winger Kanchelskis, scored two Premier League hat-tricks (one for United and one for Everton). Despite being born in the Ukraine, he decided to play for Russia, even after the Soviet split, so I suppose you could justifiably call him a Russian. To answer your other question, the nation with the most Premier League hat-tricks (apart from England, which has more than 100) is France. Fourteen Premier League trebles have been scored by Frenchmen, which puts them four ahead of their nearest challengers the Netherlands. In total, players from 30 different nations have scored Premier League hat-tricks - here is a list of the top 10: Premier League hat-tricks by nationality (excluding England): 1. France (14)
2. The Netherlands (10)
3. Norway (8)
4. Scotland (6)
5= Nigeria (5)
5= Wales (5)
7= Italy (4)
7= Trinidad & Tobago (4)
9= Russia (3)
9= Zimbabwe (3)
9= Togo (3) CRAVEN AN IMPROVEMENT
Hi Martin. I read somewhere that Fulham are 20 points better off this season than they were at the same stage last season. Is that right? If so, are they on track for some sort of Premier League record for improvement from one season to the next? Cheers, Jon Fellowes
MARTIN REPLIES: You are correct Jon. With four games left of last season Fulham were on 27 points and this season they have amassed 47 points from 34 games. As I'm sure you'll remember, the Cottagers picked up nine points from their final four games to stay in the Premier League so they will need to repeat that to maintain their 20-point improvement. If they win all four of their remaining games they would finish this season 23 points better off - and that would indeed be a new record. The record is currently held by Everton. In 2003/04 they finished the season with 39 points, but in the following campaign they picked up 61 points - an improvement of 22 points. The next best is Blackburn who finished the 2005/06 campaign 21 points better off than in the previous year. Other impressive improvements include Newcastle United (picked up 20 more points in 2001/02 than in 2000/01), Leeds United (picked up 19 more points in 1993/94 than in 1992/93) and Everton again (19 points better off in 1996/97 than in 1995/96). EARLY CHAMPIONS
Hi Martin. This year's run-in looks very interesting and dramatic. I read about the Top 10 Run-ins in Sky Sports' Topical Top 10; but I would like to know the opposite. That is which club has a won the league with most games left to play in the league? Hope I have made myself clear? Thank you. Chrispin Awuah, Ghana
MARTIN SAYS: The answer to your question is Manchester United, who won the championship in 2000/01 after the 33rd round of games - so the title was theirs with five games still to play. In the table below, I have detailed when the title was won in each of the Premier League seasons. As you can see, the title has been decided on the final day on four occasions. However, it is most often won on the penultimate match of the season - this has occurred six times in Premier League history.

SEASON	CHAMPIONS	WHEN THEY WON IT
2007/08	Manchester United	Final day
2006/07	Manchester United	After 36 games
2005/06	Chelsea	After 36 games
2004/05	Chelsea	After 35 games
2003/04	Arsenal	After 34 games
2002/03	Manchester United	After 37 games
2001/02	Arsenal	After 37 games
2000/01	Manchester United	After 33 games
1999/00	Manchester United	After 34 games
1998/99	Manchester United	Final day
1997/98	Arsenal	After 37 games
1996/97	Manchester United	After 37 games
1995/96	Manchester United	Final day
1994/95	Blackburn Rovers	Final day*
1993/94	Manchester United	After 41 games*
1992/93	Manchester United	After 41 games*

* 42-game seasons

Tyler's teaser

Hi Martin. I have a teaser for you. Can you name all of the players who have played for two (or more) of the Big Four teams during the Premier League era (Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea). Scott. MARTIN REPLIES: Myself and my team of helpers here at skysports.com have put our heads together and we've come up with 13 names. Feel free to email in if you can think of any more. Nicolas Anelka (Arsneal, Chelsea, Liverpool)
Mark Bosnich (Chelsea, Man Utd)
Lassana Diarra (Arsenal, Chelsea)
Ashley Cole (Arsenal, Chelsea)
William Gallas (Arsenal, Chelsea)
Mark Hughes (Chelsea, Man Utd)
Paul Ince (Liverpool, Man Utd)
Paul Parker (Chelsea, Man Utd)
Jermaine Pennant (Arsenal, Liverpool)
Emmanuel Petit (Arsenal, Chelsea)
Mikael Silvestre (Arsenal, Man Utd)
Juan Sebastian Veron (Chelsea, Man Utd)
Boudewijn Zenden (Chelsea, Liverpool)