As an extra special Christmas present, Martin Tyler has 12 stunning stats for the festive period.
Join Martin for a Christmas special
It's the festive season, so Martin Tyler is here with his 12 stats of Christmas!
Remember, Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here every week throughout the season to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.
If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.
Tyler's Starting Stat - Christmas number ones
I was at Eastlands on Monday night for the final Premier League game before Christmas - and it was a good night for Everton, who won there for the fourth season in a row. It was their first win in eight Premier League games - and they maintained their record of having never gone eight games without a win under David Moyes in the league.
Tim Cahill scored in this fixture for the third consecutive occasion and it's a match that is always significant for the Australian. He scored his first ever Premier League goal for Everton at Man City in 2004 - and was then sent off after receiving a second yellow card for his celebration. However, Everton did go on to win the game 1-0.
There were great celebrations for Everton captain Phil Neville, who would have been the first player home in the snow because he lives in the middle of Manchester! To cap a great night for him, it kept his old club Manchester United top of the table for Christmas.
Of United's 11 Premier League title wins, they have been top of the table at Christmas just three times. They have topped the table at Christmas five times in Premier League history, but twice failed to lift the trophy.
Overall, in only seven of the 18 Premier League seasons has the Christmas number one been the number one at the end of the campaign.
Martin's Twelve Stats of Christmas...
Twelve uprights clattering
Stoke City have hit the woodwork 12 times so far this season - more times than any other Premier League team. In second place are Arsenal (11), followed by Aston Villa and West Ham (10).
Number of times each Premier League team has hit the woodwork:
Stoke (12)
Arsenal (11)
Aston Villa, West Ham (10)
Chelsea, Man City (8)
Tottenham, Wolves (7)
Everton, Man Utd (6)
West Brom (5)
Blackburn, Bolton, Sunderland Wigan (4)
Birmingham, Fulham, Liverpool, Newcastle (3)
Blackpool (2)
Eleven keepers keeping
Jose Reina became the 11th goalkeeper to record 100 Premier League clean sheets when he reached the landmark against Aston Villa in December. He also became the second fastest to the century, behind only Petr Cech in the rankings.
Fastest to 100 Premier League clean sheets:
1. Petr Cech (180 games)
2. Jose Reina (198 games)
3. Peter Schmeichel (212 games)
4. David Seaman (225 games)
5. Edwin van der Sar (247 games)
6. Nigel Martyn (275 games)
7. David James (302)
8. Thomas Sorensen (322 games)
9. Brad Friedel (339 games)
10. Mark Schwarzer (350 games)
11. Shay Given (381 games)
Ten strikers striking
Here are the top 10 goalscorers in the Premier League in the calendar year 2010. The list is headed by Manchester City's Carlos Tevez, with only Chelsea's Didier Drogba likely to catch him before the year is finished.
1. Carlos Tevez (24 goals)
2. Didier Drogba (22)
3. Darren Bent (18)
4. Frank Lampard, Dimitar Berbatov (17)
6. Florent Malouda (16)
7. Tim Cahill (15)
8. Wayne Rooney (13)
9. Salomon Kalou, Fernando Torres (11)
Nine men at half time
West Brom were down to nine men by half time in their game against Blackpool in November - the sixth occasion in Premier League history when a team has had two men sent off in the first half. However, as you will see from the list below, Gonzalo Jara's 29th-minute red card for West Brom was not the soonest a team has been reduced to nine men. In December 2001, Bolton were reduced to nine men against Leicester City as early as the 22nd minute.
Down to nine men in the first half of a Premier League game:
01/11/2010: Blackpool 2-1 West Brom (Ibanez s/o 11, Jara s/o 29)
29/12/2001: Leicester City (Warhurst s/o 18, Holdsworth s/o 22) 2-2 Bolton
13/12/1997: Chelsea 0-0 Leeds United (Haaland s/o 23, Kelly s/o 44)
28/09/1996: Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland (Scott s/o 20, Stewart s/o 38)
10/09/1994: Wimbledon 2-1 Leicester City (Lowe s/o 33, Carey s/o 36)
28/12/1992: QPR 4-2 Everton (Southall s/o 21, Rideout s/o 44)
Eight Dunne blunders
Aston Villa's Richard Dunne now has eight own goals to his name in the Premier League - more than any other player. His own goal in the game against Sunderland on October 23 ensured he remained top of the list, even though second-placed Jamie Carragher scored an own goal in Liverpool's game against Blackburn the very same day. The Reds defender now has seven own goals to his name.
Top own goal scorers in Premier League history:
1. Richard Dunne (8)
2. Jamie Carragher (7)
4. Henning Berg, Michael Duberry, Rio Ferdinand, Richard Rufus (5)
Seven cap-less wonders
There are seven Englishmen currently playing in the Premier League to have played more than 200 Premier League games without being called up by England. The list is now headed up by Kevin Nolan after Kevin Davies made his England debut following his 279th Premier League appearance. Leon Osman made his 200th appearance against Man City on Monday night, so the list will increase to eight following his next Premier League appearance.
1. Kevin Nolan (286)
2. Titus Bramble (257)
3. Jonathan Greening (248), Matthew Taylor (248)
5. Marcus Bent (214)
6. Tony Hibbert (209)
7. Sean Davis (202)
Six struggling scorers
There are six players to have played 200+ Premier League games without scoring a goal. Tony Hibbert is the only current Premier League player in the list:
1. Kenny Cunningham (335 apps)
2. Des Walker (264)
3. Richard Shaw (253)
4. Stephane Henchoz (246)
5. Tony Hibbert (209)
6. Steve Potts (203)
Five goal kings
Dimitar Berbatov became only the fourth man to score five goals in one game when he hit five in Manchester United's 7-1 win over Blackburn in November. No player has ever scored more than five in a single Premier League game.
The other players to have achieved this are Andy Cole (in Manchester United's 9-0 win over Ipswich in March 1995), Alan Shearer (in Newcastle's 8-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999) and Jermain Defoe (in Tottenham's 9-1 victory over Wigan in November 2009).
Four hat-trick heroes
Didier Drogba became the fourth player to score a hat-trick in back-to-back Premier League games when he followed up his treble against Wigan on the final day of last season with another against West Brom on the opening day of this season.
The other three were:
Les Ferdinand - The first man to achieve the feat in the Premier League era was Ferdinand, back in his Queens Park Rangers days. He scored three in a 4-3 win against Nottingham Forest on Easter Saturday in1993 - and then another treble in a 5-3 win at Everton on Easter Monday.
Ian Wright - The Arsenal striker scored back-to-back trebles in two consecutive away games for the Gunners in March 1994. He scored three in a 5-1 win at Ipswich on March 5 1994 and then did so again in a 4-0 win at Southampton on March 19.
Thierry Henry - The Frenchman scored all three goals in Arsenal's 3-0 win against Portsmouth on March 5 2005 - and then fired three in Arsenal's next Premier League match, a 4-1 win against Norwich on April 2.
Three Frenchman clubs
William Gallas has become the first player in history to play a competitive match for Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
However, he is not the first to be contracted to all three London clubs. The former England striker Clive Allen famously played for Tottenham between 1984 and 1988 and for Chelsea in the 1991-1992 season, but was also once on the books at Arsenal. At the age of 19, Allen was signed by the Gunners in June 1980 for £1,250,000 - a record fee for a British teenager. He played three pre-season games for Arsenal, but was sold to QPR in part-exchange for Kenny Sansom before the season started - just two months after arriving.
Two too much for Cole
West Ham striker Carlton Cole has now scored 38 Premier League goals in his career - but has never scored more than once in a game.
In fact, the first brace of his professional career came in only his third senior start, a League Cup tie for Chelsea against Gillingham in November 2002 when he scored both goals in a 2-1 win before being substituted in the 64th minute. The only other brace of his career came this season in West Ham's Carling Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.
No player has scored more Premier League goals without bagging a brace. Next in the list are Ian Harte and Carl Cort, who both scored 28 goals without ever scoring two in a single game.
... and a Pardew in a pair dream
Newly-appointed Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is hoping to become only the third of Newcastle's 11 full-time Premier League managers to win his opening two games in charge. Having beaten Liverpool in his first match, he will be hoping to follow it up with three points against Manchester City on Boxing Day. The only other two men to win their first two Premier League games in charge of the Magpies are Glenn Roeder and Graeme Souness.
Record of full-time Newcastle managers in opening two Premier League games:
Kevin Keegan (1st spell): Newcastle 0-1 Tottenham / Coventry 2-1 Newcastle
Kenny Dalglish: Southampton 2-2 Newcastle / Newcastle 4-1 Everton
Ruud Gullit: Newcastle 1-4 Liverpool / Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle
Bobby Robson: Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle / Newcastle 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Graeme Souness: Southampton 1-2 Newcastle / Newcastle 3-1 West Brom
Glenn Roeder: Newcastle 2-0 Portsmouth / Aston Villa 1-2 Newcastle
Sam Allardyce: Bolton 1-3 Newcastle / Newcastle 0-0 Aston Villa
Kevin Keegan (2nd spell): Newcastle 0-0 Bolton
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Joe Kinnear: Everton 2-2 Newcastle / Newcastle 2-2 Man City
Alan Shearer: Newcastle 0-2 Chelsea / Stoke 1-1 Newcastle
Chris Hughton: Man Utd 3-0 Newcastle / Newcastle 6-0 Aston Villa
Tyler's teaser
Fill in your answers to Martin's teaser using the feedback form below - and keep those questions coming in!
And finally, I'd like to wish all of our readers a very happy Christmas. We'll be back with lots more stats and teasers for you in the New Year!
