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Martin Tyler's stats and facts: Misfiring attacks, identical league records and the highest-scoring New Year's Days

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Martin Tyler brings you this week's teaser from the Britannia Stadium ahead of Manchester United's trip to Stoke.

The last round of Premier League fixtures threw up yet more eye-catching facts and figures.

This week Martin Tyler's stats and facts column looks at a teams’ biggest points difference from one season to the next, the most amount of players used at the halfway stage of a campaign, sides with identical league records, highest-scoring New Year’s Day fixture lists and the lowest-scoring Premier League outfits.

Send your questions to Martin

1. Use the feedback form at the bottom of this page.

2. Tweet @SkyFootball using the hashtag #TylersTeasers

Martin's 40th anniversary

December 28 marked the 40th anniversary of my first commentary on television, but I must admit it seems like 40 months, rather than 40 years.

On December 28 1974, I commentated on Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday and I was back at Southampton 40 years on for the Premier League game with Chelsea. I drove to St Mary’s on the morning of the match with my two children - Adam (27) and Jenny (25) - and while The Dell (where that game was played) is no longer standing, the configuration of the roads around is still the same and with a little imagination I could recall the apprehension of 40 years ago.

We drove past the place where the Sheffield Wednesday side of 1974, very helpfully for me, had done a bit of light training ahead of the game. I had hoped to see them in the team hotel to check all the faces, so I got a real head start when I saw them all running around 15 yards from me.

All you want in life is a chance and it’s up to you if you take it. Mine probably came ahead of schedule; I had been working behind the scenes as an Editorial Assistant on The Big Match and On the Ball at ITV and had done a couple of test tapes for my own entertainment - without ever thinking that within two months I would be doing a game that was actually shown on television.

Lawrie McMenemy was the Southampton manager that day and in the last 40 years we have become friends, so it was good to see him at St Mary’s and we met up after the game. I thanked him for his kindness of 40 years before because he had really helped me learn about his team. In fact, within 18 months I was the TV reporter on the bus with Southampton travelling to the 1976 FA Cup Final.

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Martin Tyler speaks to Goals on Sunday as he celebrates the 40th anniversary of his first TV commentary.

On the anniversary day, I did some interviews for Sky Sports News HQ and Goals on Sunday. It’s hard talking about yourself when you spend your life talking about other people, but I smiled and got on with it. My producer, Scott Melvin, remarked to me with a smile: ‘this wouldn’t be a good day to mess it up, would it?’

Fortunately it was a very interesting and hard-fought game, but it would be wrong for me to say it wasn’t special. My son presented me with an album full of kind messages from people I had worked with throughout my 40 years in TV and football. It was a very humbling experience to read those and I will get round to thanking everybody personally, but I would like thank them all here – as well as thanking everybody who said kind things on social media and through this column. All I’ve done is try my best every week since that first match, living out the privilege of being the representative of the viewers at the game.

Anyway, back to work. Let’s look at some stats…

Points mean prizes

Image: Blackburn manager Roy Hodgson brought about an upturn in the club's form in 1997/98

Hi Martin, I see that Everton and West Ham United have both had vastly contrasting starts to this season compared to last season. So can you tell me what has been the biggest points differential of a Premier League team after 20 games of a season compared to the previous one? (Simon, Winchester)

MARTIN SAYS: The two clubs that you mentioned this season, Everton and West Ham, both have a 17-point differential from this time last year, although Everton's total has gone down, while West Ham's has increased.

However, the biggest-ever points difference after the 20-game mark in the history of the Premier League is held by Blackburn Rovers, who suffered a 22-point drop off between the 1997/98 and 1998/99 campaigns.

Blackburn manager Roy Hodgson, who had guided the club to an impressive sixth-place league finish the previous campaign, paid with his job in November 1998, with Brian Kidd replacing him in the Ewood Park dugout.

However, it was not enough to prevent the club from being relegated to the Championship come the end of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Blackburn and Wimbledon have also both enjoyed 20-point surges across a 12-month period.

As mentioned above, the former responded to a disappointing campaign in 1996/97 to achieve a sixth-place finish under Hodgson the following season on the back of having accumulated 40 points after 20 matches in that campaign, 20 more than they had managed at the same stage the previous year.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon enjoyed one of their best-ever Premier League campaigns in 1996/97, with Joe Kinnear’s men ending that season in an impressive eighth place in the standings having amassed 38 points after 20 fixtures, again 20 more than they had achieved 12 months earlier.

Player power

Luis Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, Juan Mata, Robin van Persie of Manchester United look on as Christian Benteke of Aston Villa scores
Image: United have used a whopping 31 players in the Premier League so far this season

Hello Martin, I read that Manchester United have used 31 different players in the Premier League so far this season, but what is the highest amount ever used by any team at the halfway stage of a campaign? Gill, Swansea

MARTIN SAYS: Yes, you are absolutely right about Manchester United Gill, and in fact they have now broken the record for the highest amount of players ever used at the midpoint of a Premier League season (31). They had actually used that many after only 10 games – and have used no new players since Michael Carrick came back as a substitute against Man City. That makes it even more remarkable.

That beats the previous record set by Watford back in the 1999/2000 campaign, when manager Graham Taylor used 30 different players by the halfway point of that season.

However, it was still not enough to prevent the Hornets being relegated to the Championship after finishing bottom of the table that May.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United got through 29 players after 19 games of both the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons under the management of Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit and Bobby Robson.

And seven clubs have utilised 28 players at the middle stage of a Premier League campaign, including the likes of Middlesbrough (2001/02), Everton and Newcastle (2000/01), Derby County and United (1999/2000), Southampton (1996/97 and 1997/98) and Oldham Athletic (1993/94).

In 2013/14, Fulham used 39 different players in the entire campaign, which is the most a club has used in a COMPLETE Premier League season season.

Copycats

Chelsea's Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta (R) vies with Manchester City's Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero (L)
Image: Chelsea and champions City have identical league records after 20 games of the campaign

I read that this is only the fourth time in English top-flight history that two sides have been top with the exact same record after November. When has it happened before? Matt Bramble

MARTIN SAYS: You are correct to say that on four previous occasions we have seen two teams at the top with the same number of points and the same number of goals for and against - but never before have two teams at the top after November also boast the same number of games won/drawn/lost, as both Chelsea and Manchester City do now.

Both sides have won 14 games, drawn four and lost two and have also scored (44) and conceded (19).

It was a similar story on January 10, 2004 as Arsenal and Manchester United were level on 49 points, having both scored 40 goals and conceded 14. However, Arsenal were unbeaten from 21 matches, while United had lost three times but won two more games than the Gunners, who would go on to win the league.

Arsenal also held the same record as Chelsea on December 12, 2003 after each side had collected 39 points from their opening 17 matches. They had also both scored 31 goals and conceded only 12, although Arsenal were again unbeaten in the 17-game stretch, while Chelsea had lost twice but won a game more. Neither side would go on to win the league as Manchester United pipped them both to the title.

The only time two teams have been level at the top with identical records after November was back in 1924 when Notts County and West Bromwich Albion shared top spot. The two sides both had 24 points and a goal difference average of 1.8 after 19 games on December 13 that season.

New Year's Day Bonanza 

Andros Townsend of Spurs celebrates
Image: Spurs' 5-3 win over Chelsea was the highest-scoring Premier League game ever played on New Year's Day

It was a great New Year’s Day with 33 goals being scored. Have any other New Year’s Days in the Premier League come close to matching that? (Tim Cartwright)

MARTIN SAYS: It certainly was an amazing day in the Premier League, with goals flying in around the country. The 33 scored was four higher than the previous record of 29, which was set in 1996 and then repeated in 2005.

In 1996 there were 4-2 wins for Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday against Nottingham Forest and Bolton respectively, while Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 4-1. The only match to finish goalless was Leeds United’s against Bolton Wanderers, with every other game producing at least two goals.

Spurs also played a big part in the 29-goal haul in 2005 as they crushed Everton 5-2. There were 3-1 wins for Arsenal and Fulham over Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace respectively and none of the 10 matches finished without a goal.

Fourth on the list of highest-scoring New Year’s Days is 2007, when 25 goals were netted in just eight matches. The biggest scorers on that day were Reading, who thrashed West Ham United 6-0, while Liverpool beat Bolton 3-0 and Blackburn Rovers won by the same scoreline at Wigan.

Spurs’ 5-3 victory over Chelsea last Thursday was also the highest-scoring match ever played on New Year’s Day in the Premier League, ahead of Spurs’ 5-2 win over Everton in 2005.

Goal-sky Villians

Christian Benteke: scores the winner late on against Blackpool
Image: Villa have struggled badly for goals so far this campaign

Aston Villa have only scored 11 goals in their 20 Premier League games so far this season, but has any team ever scored less at this stage and how many did they finish the campaign with? (Patrick Calloway)

MARTIN SAYS: A couple of teams have actually scored less goals than Villa at the halfway stage of the season: Derby County in 2007/08 and Manchester City in 1995/96.

Both sides netted just 10 goals in their first 20 matches, with Derby only managing to double that total by the end of the season. Perhaps that wasn’t surprising given that was the Rams side who finished with the lowest-ever points total in Premier League history and also won just one match all season.

Manchester City fared better in the second half of the 1995/95 campaign as they finished with 33 goals, but, like Derby, they were still relegated.

Everton also managed just 11 goals in the first half of the 2005/06 season, but scored 24 times more in the New Year to ensure they finished 11th in the table.

Villa currently sit 12th in the Premier League standings thanks to five wins and seven draws from the 20 matches they have played so far.

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