Thursday 29 January 2015 11:09, UK
There are plenty of interesting stats and facts ahead of the return of the Premier League this weekend.
This week Martin Tyler's stats and facts column looks at the head-to-head records of the top two in previous seasons, who has been Manchester United's best forward this campaign, who along with Bradford has scored four goals at Stamford Bridge and an alphabetical history of the top flight...
Send your questions to Martin
1: Email your posers to skysportsclub@bskyb.com
2. Use the feedback form at the bottom of this page.
3. Tweet @SkyFootball using the hashtag #TylersTeasers
A tribute to Drogba
This week’s teaser was recorded at the Football Writers’ Association tribute gala tribute evening celebrating Didier Drogba. Just 48 hours later, in the last knockings of the epic Capital one Cup semi-final second leg, Jose Mourinho turned to him again – even though it was a cameo role it emphasised the importance that he has to Chelsea as a footballer. Sky Sports made a video of his time at Chelsea, which emphasised not only the number of goals he scored, but the number of important goals.
His record in finals is extraordinary, typified by his contribution to the Champions League win for Chelsea in 2012. The guest speakers on Sunday evening were Petr Cech, who saved the penalty that Drogba gave away in Munich (and there was much banter between the two about that) and Thierry Henry, who pointed out that Didier had a fantastic record against Arsenal – but it was mostly achieved when Thierry wasn’t at the club!
Not surprisingly, the cup result against Bradford didn’t get a mention – but Didier and his Chelsea team-mates have the chance to bounce back from that humbling experience by adding a win over Manchester City to the achievement of reaching the Capital One Cup Final. I’ll be commentating on the game for Sky Sports on Saturday evening.
@SkyFootball #TylersTeasers When was the last time a team that started with the letter W was not in the top English division? (Andrew W)
MARTIN SAYS: There has never been a time that the English top division didn’t feature a team starting with ‘W’ since the Football League began in 1888.
Usually it has been one of West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United or Wolverhampton Wanderers, but in 1910/11 when none of those sides were present in the top flight, it was Woolwich Arsenal who were representing the letter W. They would drop the ‘Woolwich’ three years later.
Thanks to Arsenal and Aston Villa, there has also always been at least one top division club starting with ‘A’.
Away from the ever-present letters, Manchester City’s promotion in 1899 meant that the 1898/99 season was the most recent without a side beginning with ‘M’, while ‘L’ has been represented every season since Liverpool’s promotion in 1905.
Heading back to the present, there are several letters that currently have no representation in the Premier League. A ‘G’ club last appeared in the top division in 1947/48 before Grimsby Town’s relegation, while the top flight lost its most recent ‘I’ and ‘O’ sides when Ipswich Town and Oldham Athletic were relegated in 2001/02 and 1993/94 respectively.
Portsmouth were the last ‘P’ side seen in 2009/10, and Reading the last ‘R’ club in 2012/13. No ‘Y’ club has ever made the top flight, although Yeovil Town were in the Championship last season before their relegation back to the third tier.
Don’t worry, we will always try to provide an A-Z service to your queries here on the column.
How often have the eventual title winners come out on top in matches against the eventual second-placed team? (Toby, Hull)
MARTIN SAYS: More often than not the team that has the better head-to-head record between the top two has come out on top in the Premier League title race.
There are a few examples of when this wasn’t the case, such as in 1994/95 when Manchester United missed out on the title despite beating Blackburn Rovers both home and away.
Liverpool also finished as runners-up despite beating United twice in the league in 2008/09 while Aston Villa (1992/93), Blackburn (1993/94) and Arsenal (1998/99) were all unbeaten against United in their respective seasons but still ended up second behind Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
Arsenal, though, did beat United twice on their way to winning the league in 1997/98 and won once and drew once against Liverpool and Chelsea in their title-winning seasons of 2001/02 and 2003/04 respectively.
Manchester United did the double over Newcastle in 1995/96, despite the best efforts of Kevin Keegan, but they missed out on a fourth successive league win in 2009/10 by a point as they were beaten home and away by Chelsea.
The most emphatic victory between the top two in the Premier League was in 2011/12 when Manchester City followed up their 1-0 home win over United by thrashing their rivals 6-1 at Old Trafford. That result proved significant as City won the title on goal difference from United.
Head-to-head between top two in Premier League
1992/93 – Manchester United 1-1 Aston Villa, Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester United.
1993/94 – Manchester United 1-1 Blackburn Rovers, Blackburn Rovers 2-0 Manchester United
1994/95 – Blackburn Rovers 2-4 Manchester United, Manchester United 1-0 Blackburn Rovers
1995/96 – Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United, Newcastle United 0-1 Manchester United
1996/97 – Manchester United 0-0 Newcastle United, Newcastle United 5-0 Manchester United
1997/98 – Arsenal 3-2 Manchester United, Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal
1998/99 – Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal, Arsenal 3-0 Manchester United
1999/00 – Manchester United 1-1, Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United
2000/01 – Manchester United 6-1 Arsenal, Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United
2001/02 – Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool, Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal
2002/03 – Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal, Arsenal 2-2 Manchester United
2003/04 – Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea, Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal
2004/05 – Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal, Arsenal 2-2 Chelsea
2005/06 – Chelsea 3-0 Manchester United, Manchester United 1-0 Chelsea
2006/07 – Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea, Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United
2007/08 – Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea, Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United
2008/09 – Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool, Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United
2009/10 – Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United, Manchester United 1-2 Chelsea
2010/11 – Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea, Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United
2011/12 – Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United, Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City
2012/13 – Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City, Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United
2013/14 – Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool, Liverpool 3-2 Manchester City
After Chelsea’s 4-2 FA Cup defeat to Bradford at the weekend I was wondering on how many other occasions have they conceded at least four goals at home in the last 20 years? (Jonah)
MARTIN SAYS: There have been 11 other matches in which the visitors to Stamford Bridge have scored at least four goals since 1995 – however it has never before happened under Jose Mourinho. That was, in fact, the first time he has conceded four goals at home as a manager at any club.
The last team to achieve the feat was Manchester United when they were beaten 5-4 in the 2012/13 League Cup, although one of their goals came in extra-time.
Arsenal ran out 5-3 winners at Chelsea in the 2011/12 Premier League season thanks to a Robin van Persie hat-trick while Shola Ameobi netted in the last minute to give Newcastle United a 4-3 win in the second round of the 2010/11 League Cup.
Chelsea had both Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack sent off as they lost 4-2 at home to Manchester City in the Premier League in 2010, a year after they drew 4-4 with Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Aston Villa also drew 4-4 at Stamford Bridge in 2007 thanks to a late Gareth Barry penalty while Southampton and Sunderland won 4-2 at Chelsea in ’02 and ’01 respectively.
The Blues were 3-0 down at half-time in the 1997/98 FA Cup against Manchester United before losing 5-3, with David Beckham and Andy Cole both scoring twice for the visitors, while United were 4-1 winners at Chelsea in the 1995/96 Premier League and Wimbledon won 4-2 in 1996/97.
Teams to score at least four goals at Chelsea in last 20 years
Bradford City (4-2, 2015/16 FA Cup)
Man Utd (5-4, 2012/13 League Cup; 5-3, 1998/99 FA Cup; 4-1, 1995/96 Premier League)
Arsenal (5-3, 2011/12 Premier League)
Newcastle United (4-3, 2010/11 League Cup)
Manchester City (4-2, 2009/10 Premier League)
Liverpool (4-4, 2008/09 Champions League)
Aston Villa (4-4, 2007/08 Premier League)
Southampton (4-2, 2001/02 Premier League)
Sunderland (4-2, 2000/01 Premier League)
Wimbledon (4-2, 1996/97 Premier League)
Statistically, who is Man Utd's best forward so far this season, in terms of goals per game, assists etc? (Flynn Murphy)
MARTIN SAYS: It’s tricky to define forwards, so I have selected attacking players rather than forwards in the traditional sense.
Juan Mata has the best shot conversion rate of all Manchester United’s forward players in the Premier League, having scored five times from 29 shots (31.25%), while Wayne Rooney is just behind with eight goals from 26 shots (30.77%).
Angel di Maria has the worst conversion rate having taken 29 attempts to score three times (10.34%). Robin van Persie has taken 45 shots to score eight times in 20 games, at a shot conversation rate of 17.78%, and James Wilson has managed a single goal from six shots (16.67%).
Radamel Falcao has scored three so far from 20 shots (15%), but leads the way in terms of shooting accuracy at 70%, with Rooney (26 shots) and Wilson (six shots) at 50% and Van Persie (45 shots) at 55.56%. Mata (16 shots) has the worst accuracy at 43.75%, just behind Di Maria (29 shots) on 44.83%.
In terms of assists, Di Maria leads the way with six in 14 appearances at a rate of 0.42 per game, while Van Persie is at 0.1 after registering just two in 20 games. Falcao has a ratio of 0.23 assists per game after setting up three goals in 13.
Wilson, meanwhile, has failed to register a single assist in 10 appearances so far, while Rooney has four assists in 18 games at a rate of 0.22 per game and Mata has a rate of 0.15 per game with three in 19.
Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero are first and second in the scoring charts ahead of the big match on Saturday. Does the Premier League winner usually provide the top scorer too? (Scotty)
MARTIN SAYS: A Golden Boot winner is no guarantee of a Premier League title. On just seven occasions out of 22 Premier League seasons has the outright top scorer also gone on to lift the trophy.
The most recent was Robin van Persie in 2012/13, when he helped Manchester United to the title with 26 goals, while Didier Drogba netted 29 for Chelsea in 2009/10 and United’s Cristiano Ronaldo bagged 31 goals in 2007/08.
Thierry Henry topped the charts in 2001/02 and 2003/04 with 24 and 30 goals respectively, with Ruud van Nistelrooy sandwiched in between scoring 25 for United in 2002/03.
The only other occasion the outright top scorer also lifted the title was when Alan Shearer netted 34 times as Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League in 1994/95.
On two occasions the title-winning side has featured a player who shared the Golden Boot. During Manchester United’s 2010/11 title-winning season, Dimitar Berbatov and Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez both finished on 20 goals. And in 1998/99 Manchester United’s Dwight Yorke bagged 18 alongside Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink of Chelsea and Liverpool’s Michael Owen.
Last season, Liverpool had the top two scorers in the Premier League in Luis Suarez (31) and Daniel Sturridge (21), but failed to lift the title.
Despite romping to victory in 2004/05, Chelsea’s top scorer that season was Frank Lampard with just 13 – finishing 12 goals behind Arsenal’s Golden Boot winner Thierry Henry.
Teddy Sheringham scored 22 in the first edition of the league in 1992/93, even though Tottenham finished just eighth. And in 1997/98 Dion Dublin shared it with Liverpool’s Michael Owen and Blackburn Rovers’ Chris Sutton on 18 as Coventry finished 11th.
In football circles, it is thought that the team with the greatest variety in goalscoring – and not dependent on one particular marksman - is the most likely to be successful.
