After three defeats, what do the stats say about Man United's title hopes? Martin answers your questions!
Tyler's Teaser
Every week, Martin will set you a question of his own to get your grey matter working. Click above for this week's Tyler's Teaser - with a nod to Paolo Di Canio - from the Stadium of Light.
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Martin's Starting Stats
I was at the Stadium of Light on Saturday where, for the first time in the club's history, Sunderland have lost their first three home league games of the season.
I also saw Luis Suarez score Liverpool's first second-half goal of the season in their eighth match and overall they hadn't scored a goal after the break in nine games since Daniel Sturridge completed his hat-trick against Fulham last May.
Speaking of Sturridge, he took his record at the Stadium of Light to P4 W4 (two wins with Chelsea, one with Man City and now one with Liverpool) and he's now scored 11 in his last 11 Premier League games.
Jordan Henderson played his 100th game for Liverpool against his old club and Victor Moses played in his 100th Premier League game overall.
Sunderland conceded three goals in a game for the fourth consecutive Premier League match - and of course they lost all four games.
Suarez strikes
Massive fan of the stats you provide, I love reeling them off to my mates and trying to sound like you! I'm a massive Sunderland fan and have just watched Luis Suarez and co tear us apart again. That makes it 7 goals (by my counting) he has scored against us in 6 games. What I want to know is: Has anyone got a better individual scoring record than Suarez v Sunderland? I can't imagine many players have unfortunately. It's better than a goal a game. Cheers, Jack
MARTIN SAYS: You're absolutely right. Suarez has got seven goals in six Premier League games against Sunderland which means he has a goal ratio of 1.17 per game against them.
To answer your question we asked those clever chaps at Opta to give us a list of players who've played at least five Premier League games against a particular club and can boast an average of more than one goal per game. Under those criteria, there are nine instances of a player having a better record that Suarez.
The best record of all in these circumstances belongs to Ian Wright, who played five times against Ipswich and scored eight goals - an average of 1.6 goals per game. The next best record also comes against Ipswich as Andy Cole scored 10 goals in seven games against them - that's 1.43 goals per game. Michael Owen boasts a record of 13 goals in 10 games against Newcastle, even though he played for them for several years!
As a Sunderland fan, you can perhaps console yourself with the fact Suarez has an even better goalscoring record against other Premier League clubs. He has six goals in five games against Wigan and an even better record against Norwich City with seven goals in just four games.
He doesn't appear in our table, as we limited it to a minimum of five appearances but that record will put him fourth on the list when he plays against the Canaries again - even if he doesn't score - and one goal would take him to the top of the list alongside Wright.
Best goal ratios against one opponent (minimum five games):
| All-time Premier League |
Opponent |
Games Played |
Goals |
Goals per game |
| Ian Wright |
Ipswich |
5 |
8 |
1.60 |
| Andrew Cole |
Ipswich |
7 |
10 |
1.43 |
| Michael Owen |
Newcastle |
10 |
13 |
1.30 |
| Luis Suarez |
Wigan |
5 |
6 |
1.20 |
| Luke Moore |
Middlesbrough |
5 |
6 |
1.20 |
| David Hirst |
Southampton |
5 |
6 |
1.20 |
| Demba Ba |
WBA |
5 |
6 |
1.20 |
| Robbie Keane |
Wolves |
5 |
6 |
1.20 |
| Luis Suarez |
Sunderland |
6 |
7 |
1.17 |
| Thierry Henry |
Portsmouth |
6 |
7 |
1.17 |
| Teddy Sheringham |
QPR |
7 |
8 |
1.14 |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy |
Charlton |
7 |
8 |
1.14 |
| Robin van Persie |
Stoke |
7 |
8 |
1.14 |
| Alan Shearer |
Nottingham Forest |
9 |
10 |
1.11 |
| Alan Shearer |
Leeds |
19 |
20 |
1.05 |
United's stuttering start
Dear Martin. It won't have escaped you that Manchester United have now lost three of their first six league games this season and picked up just seven points. Has a team ever started a season with a record like that and gone on to win the Premier League? Rashid (Manchester United fan)
MARTIN SAYS: Those defeats - against Liverpool, Manchester City and West Brom - mean that Manchester United have lost three of their opening six league games for the first time since 1989/90. Thanks to our friends at Opta, I can tell you that United have never won the title in a top-flight season where they've lost three or more of their opening six games.
We have detailed the record in the first six games of each Premier League title-winning team for you below and as you can see, no side has won the title after picking up fewer than eight points in their opening six matches. However, Manchester United picked up just eight points in 2002/03 - two wins against West Brom and Spurs, two draws against Chelsea and Middlesbrough and two defeats against Bolton and Leeds - and still won the league by five points.
| PL Champions after 6 games |
Season |
p |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
PTS |
| Manchester United |
12/13 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
9 |
5 |
12 |
| Manchester City |
11/12 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
19 |
5 |
14 |
16 |
| Manchester United |
10/11 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
16 |
3 |
7 |
12 |
| Chelsea |
09/10 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
9 |
12 |
18 |
| Manchester United |
08/09 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
11 |
| Manchester United |
07/08 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
| Manchester United |
06/07 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
4 |
8 |
13 |
| Chelsea |
05/06 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
12 |
18 |
| Chelsea |
04/05 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
5 |
14 |
| Arsenal |
03/04 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
3 |
8 |
14 |
| Manchester United |
02/03 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
| Arsenal |
01/02 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
14 |
5 |
9 |
11 |
| Manchester United |
00/01 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
17 |
4 |
13 |
14 |
| Manchester United |
99/00 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
4 |
12 |
16 |
| Manchester United |
98/99 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
4 |
11 |
| Arsenal |
97/98 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
13 |
6 |
7 |
12 |
| Manchester United |
96/97 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
16 |
6 |
10 |
12 |
| Manchester United |
95/96 |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
8 |
6 |
15 |
| Blackburn |
94/95 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
13 |
2 |
11 |
14 |
| Manchester United |
93/94 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
3 |
11 |
16 |
| Manchester United |
92/93 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
10 |
If we look back beyond the Premier League era and into the days of two points for a win, then according to Opta, the last top-flight team to lose three of their opening six games and win the title were Portsmouth in 1949/50 - so it appears Manchester United have a big task on their hands to retain their title.
Everyone's a loser
Hi Martin! With Liverpool's loss to Southampton, only Everton are yet to lose in the Premier League this season, which considering how early in the season it is strikes me as remarkable, and perhaps hints that the league might be more open than it has been for a while. So my question to you is: What is the earliest in a season that every team in the Premier League has lost at least once? Was that a tight finish for the title come the end of the season?
MARTIN SAYS: At least one team has avoided defeat in the first six games of every Premier League season until now and Everton's win against Newcastle on Monday night ensured that record has been maintained this term. They will do well to get to the end of game seven unbeaten as they are away to Manchester City!
To answer your question, the earliest in a season that every Premier League team has lost at least once is the end of matchday 7. That came in 2009/10 when Chelsea were the only unbeaten team at the end of Matchday 6, but surprisingly lost 3-1 away at Wigan on Matchday 7. That season Chelsea did however go on to win the title and it was indeed a tight finish - they finished above Manchester United by a point.
At the other end of the spectrum, there was of course one famous season when one team did not lose at all - the Arsenal Invincibles campaign of 2003/04. That aside, there was a 25-game unbeaten run from Manchester United in 2010/11 when they went on to win the Premier League by nine points.
Apart from the three seasons mentioned above, there have only been three other occasions when the last unbeaten team has gone on to win the league; Man Utd in 1997, Chelsea in 2006 and Man City in 2012 - so the omens aren't great for an Everton title triumph!
The list below shows each season and the matchday on which the last unbeaten team lost. The last team(s) to lose are included in brackets:
1992/93 - 9 (Ipswich)
1993/94 - 9 (Coventry)
1994/95 - 12 (Newcastle / Forest)
1995/96 - 13 (Forest)
1996/97 - 10 (Man Utd)
1997/98 - 13 (Arsenal)
1998/99 - 13 (Aston Villa)
1999/00 - 10 (Man Utd)
2000/01 - 9 (Leicester)
2001/02 - 12 (Leeds)
2002/03 - 13 (Liverpool)
2003/04 - NONE (Arsenal)
2004/05 - 10 (Arsenal)
2005/06 - 12 (Chelsea)
2006/07- 10 (Aston Villa)
2007/08 - 16 (Arsenal)
2008/09 - 11 (Liverpool)
2009/10 - 7 (Chelsea)
2010/11 - 25 (Man Utd)
2011/12 - 15 (Man City)
2012/13 - 16 (Man City)
2013/14 - ?
Barry at the draw
One rare question: Is Gareth Barry the player with most draws in the EPL (more than Giggs)? He played at Villa, who in recent years played a lot of draws, then at City, who also almost never lost under Roberto Mancini but couldn't always win, and I guess this year Everton will lose few matches, win a few and again draw a lot! He is of course a balanced player at the middle so I guess, if I'm right, my draw-statement is no coincidence. Kind regards: Egil Flesvik, Spurs-supporter from Norway
MARTIN SAYS: We thought it was worth doing a question on Gareth Barry this week after he played in his 500th Premier League game in the Monday Night Football clash against Newcastle - only the 10th player to achieve that landmark.
To answer your question, he has the joint third-highest number of Premier League draws to his name in Premier League history with 146 in those 500 games. The only players with more are David James (158 in 572 games) and Emile Heskey (151 in 516), who have had both played more games than Barry. He just needs to play in 13 more Premier League draws to break the record.
Everton have been in double figures for draws for the last five years so there's a good chance of him doing that. I'd like to commend him on reaching 500 Premier League games and you can look forward to hearing from him as a guest in our Champions League studio on Wednesday night.
You mention Ryan Giggs and even though he has played in 123 games more than Barry, he has been involved in 10 fewer draws (he has won 401 Premier League games and lost just 86).
Premier League players involved in the most draws:
| 1 |
David James |
158 |
| 2 |
Emile Heskey |
151 |
| 3 |
Gary Speed |
146 |
| = |
Gareth Barry |
146 |
| 5 |
Mark Schwarzer |
142 |
| 6 |
Sol Campbell |
138 |
| 7 |
Ryan Giggs |
136 |
| = |
Aaron Hughes |
136 |
| 9 |
Shay Given |
126 |
| 10 |
Gareth Southgate |
125 |
|
|
|
A century of scorers
Dear Martin. I read that Serge Gnabry became the 97th different scorer for Arsenal in the Premier League era. I was wondering if any side has had 100 different scorers in the Premier League or if this is some sort of record? Smithy
MARTIN SAYS: Your sources are correct! Thanks to Opta, I can tell you that Gnabry became the 97th man to score for Arsenal in the Premier League at the weekend. They'll be looking to the likes of Mesut Ozil, Chuba Akpom, Carl Jenkinson and Emmanuel Frimpong to try to get them to three figures. However, I can also tell you that eight other clubs have already got more than 100 Premier League scorers.
The club with the most scorers in Premier League history are Arsenal's near neighbours Tottenham. Paulinho became their 122nd scorer in the competition earlier this season. West Ham have had 119 scorers, Man City have had 115, Aston Villa have had 112, followed by Everton and Newcastle (110), Chelsea (106) and Blackburn (104).
Interestingly, Manchester United are way behind with just 80 goalscorers in the Premier League era; the most recent being Tom Cleverley last October. That's probably because they've held onto their players and not had such a turnover. David Moyes will hope to see the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Marouane Fellaini add their names to the list before long.
Here is a list of how many goalscorers each Premier League club has had, including details of the most recent:
| Club | Total PL scorers | Latest scorer |
| Arsenal | 97 | Gnabry |
| Aston Villa | 112 | Bacuna |
| Barnsley | 10 | Jones |
| Birmingham | 52 | Beausejour |
| Blackburn | 104 | Goodwillie |
| Blackpool | 14 | Ormerod |
| Bolton | 86 | Alonso |
| Bradford | 20 | Myers |
| Burnley | 13 | Cork |
| Cardiff | 5 | Mutch |
| Charlton | 52 | Zhi |
| Chelsea | 106 | Mikel |
| Coventry | 52 | Hartson |
| Crystal Palace | 45 | O'Keefe |
| Derby | 56 | Earnshaw |
| Everton | 110 | Lukaku |
| Fulham | 68 | Bent |
| Hull | 32 | Aluko |
| Ipswich | 45 | Bent |
| Leeds | 66 | Caldwell |
| Leicester | 56 | Thatcher |
| Liverpool | 105 | Moses |
| Man City | 115 | Negredo |
| Man Utd | 80 | Cleverley |
| Middlesbrough | 87 | Bates |
| Newcastle | 110 | Remy |
| Norwich | 60 | Redmond |
| N Forest | 39 | Porfirio |
| Oldham | 17 | McCarthy |
| Portsmouth | 54 | Brown |
| QPR | 48 | Jenas |
| Reading | 29 | Karacan |
| Sheff Utd | 28 | Tonge |
| Sheff Weds | 59 | Quinn |
| Southampton | 81 | Osvaldo |
| Stoke | 31 | Cameron |
| Sunderland | 99 | Giaccherini |
| Swansea | 19 | Shelvey |
| Swindon | 11 | Nijholt |
| Tottenham | 122 | Paulinho |
| Watford | 25 | Shittu |
| West Brom | 59 | Berahino |
| West Ham | 119 | Morrison |
| Wigan | 58 | Espinoza |
| Wimbledon | 40 | Andresen |
| Wolves | 31 | Kightly |
