Whose strikes and assists account for more than half his team's goals this year? Martin Tyler knows...
Martin's back with some statistical gems...
Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is here!
Every week on skysports.com he answers your questions and offers you statistical gems from what he's seen as he tours the world commentating for Sky Sports.
Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts want your queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.
So if you have spotted something from a match or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.
Tyler's teaser
But as usual we'll kick off with a question for YOU. Click play to see this week's Tyler's Teaser.
Martin's Starting Stats
I was at White Hart Lane on Sunday to see Tottenham stun Manchester City with three second-half goals and secure a 3-1 win which maintains their pursuit of the Champions League qualifying places.
It was City's first defeat in 11 matches against London clubs this season and the first time since December 2011 that they have lost after leading at half-time. On that occassion they lost 2-1 to Chelsea. In both of those matches City's opposition was managed by Andre Villas-Boas.
Samir Nasri had put the visitors ahead with his first goal in the league since the first weekend of the season at home to Southampton. The France international had gone 22 Premier League games without a goal.
Spurs' Jermain Defoe was also suffering a goal drought before this game. The striker hadn't scored since Boxing Day, until his 79th minute goal - his first in 13 games in all competitions.
Gareth Bale, meanwhile, maintained his recent run - he has now scored in each of Tottenham's last nine wins going back to New Year's Day, when he didn't play and Spurs beat Reading 3-1.
The Welshman's strike against City was his 18th in the Premier League this season. He needs two more to become the first Spurs player to score 20 in one campaign since Jurgen Klinsmann in 1994/95.
The match against Manchester City was Benoit Assou-Ekotto's 200th Spurs appearance, while referee Lee Mason had a fine game and has only shown one red card in his last 61 league matches, showing you can rule without red.
SCORING AND MAKING
Dear Martin. We had a debate in the pub on Saturday afternoon after Gareth Bale scored one and made one for Spurs and Luis Suarez scored one and made one for Liverpool. If you add together goals and assists then who has been involved in the most goals for their team this season? This might give us a clear indication of which players are most valuable and also which ones should be winning the end of year awards! Keep up the good work. Ally (Liverpool fan)
MARTINS SAYS: With the help of the boffins at Opta, I can tell you that Luis Suarez has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than Gareth Bale. The Uruguayan has scored 23 and has been credited with five assists (a total of 28 goals), while Bale has scored 18 and assisted four (22 in total).
However, both men have been directly involved in fewer goals than Manchester United striker Robin van Persie. He has been directly involved in 32 of their goals this season - after being credited with 24 goals and 8 assists.
You might argue that Manchester United have scored more goals this season and therefore Van Persie's impact has not been as great. When you look at the percentage of their total goals, Van Persie has directly been involved in 41 per cent of their strikes. That's higher than Bale who has contributed to 38 per cent of Tottenham's goals this term, but lower than Suarez who has been involved in 46 per cent of Liverpool's goals.
However, they all pale in comparison to Aston Villa's Christian Benteke, who has scored or directly assisted in more than half of his team's Premier League goals. He has scored 15 and contributed four assists to their overall tally of 36 goals this term.
Players involved in most goal + assists in Premier League 2012/13:
| Player |
Team |
Goals |
Assists |
Total |
% Team goals |
| Theo Walcott |
Arsenal |
11 |
10 |
21 |
32% |
| Christian Benteke |
Aston Villa |
15 |
4 |
19 |
53% |
| Juan Mata |
Chelsea |
10 |
12 |
22 |
33% |
| Marouane Fellaini |
Everton |
11 |
5 |
16 |
31% |
| Dimitar Berbatov |
Fulham |
13 |
3 |
16 |
36% |
| Luis Suárez |
Liverpool |
23 |
5 |
28 |
46% |
| Carlos Tévez |
Man City |
11 |
7 |
18 |
31% |
| Robin van Persie |
Man Utd |
21 |
8 |
29 |
41% |
| Demba Ba |
Newcastle |
13 |
0 |
13 |
30% |
| Robert Snodgrass |
Norwich |
5 |
5 |
10 |
30% |
| Adel Taarabt |
QPR |
5 |
4 |
9 |
31% |
| Adam Le Fondre |
Reading |
10 |
1 |
11 |
30% |
| Rickie Lambert |
Southampton |
14 |
5 |
19 |
40% |
| Peter Crouch |
Stoke |
6 |
3 |
9 |
30% |
| Steven Fletcher |
Sunderland |
11 |
1 |
12 |
32% |
| Michu |
Swansea |
17 |
2 |
19 |
44% |
| Gareth Bale |
Tottenham |
18 |
4 |
22 |
38% |
| Romelu Lukaku |
West Brom |
13 |
3 |
16 |
37% |
| Kevin Nolan |
West Ham |
7 |
2 |
9 |
23% |
| Arouna Koné |
Wigan |
10 |
5 |
15 |
41% |
LOTS OF SCORERS
Martin. One of the things that has struck me about Manchester United's title success this term is the number of different goalscorers they have had. I have counted 19 different players who have scored for them in the league this year. Can you tell me if they've ever had this many different scorers before and if a team has ever had so many scorers in one Premier League season? James Cosby (Manchester United fan)
MARTIN SAYS: Manchester United have indeed had 19 different goalscorers this season. Robin van Persie may have dominated the goalscoring stats, but they have spread the rest of the goals around:
Manchester United scorers (Premier League 2012/13)
Van Persie (24), Rooney (12), Hernández (8), Kagawa (5), Evra (4), Evans (3), Rafael (3), Cleverley (2), Giggs (2), Carrick (1), Valencia (1), Fletcher (1), Powell (1), Scholes (1), Anderson (1), Nani (1), Welbeck (1), Vidic (1), Büttner (1)
In fact, the only outfield players to have played in the league and failed to score for them this season are Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jones, Ashely Young and Chris Smalling. They have broken their previous best tally of 17 goalscorers (set in 2006/07 and 2009/10) and if one more player scores then they will break the Premier League record for the number of different scorers in one season (excluding own goals).
Currently that record is shared with
Man City 's 19 goalscorers in 2008/09:
Robinho (14), Ireland (9), Elano (6), Wright-Phillips (5), Caicedo (5), Sturridge (4), Bellamy (3), Garrido (1), Richards (1), Bojinov (1), Kompany (1), Onuoha (1), Fernandes (1), Benjani (1), Jô (1), Corluka (1), Dunne (1), Zabaleta (1), Evans (1),
And
Tottenham's 19 goalscorers in 2009/10:
Defoe (18), Crouch (8), Kranjcar (6), Keane (6), Pavlyuchenko (5), Bale (3), Modric (3), Lennon (3), Dawson (2), Huddlestone (2), King (2), Bentley (2), Assou-Ekotto (1), Gudjohnsen (1), Corluka (1), Rose (1), Jenas (1), Bassong (1), Palacios (1)
Most different goalscorers in one Premier League season:
19 SCORERS
2008/2009: Manchester City
2009/2010: Tottenham Hotspur
2012/2013: Manchester United
18 SCORERS
1998/1999: Blackburn Rovers
2003/2004: Blackburn Rovers
2009/2010: Arsenal
2009/2010: Hull City
2011/2012: Everton
17 SCORERS
1992/1993: Everton
1992/1993: Sheffield Wednesday
2001/2002: Everton
2001/2002: Middlesbrough
2002/2003: Arsenal
2006/2007: Manchester United
2009/2010: Manchester United
2010/2011: Arsenal
2011/2012: Arsenal
UNITED'S FINAL FOUR
Hi Martin, great column. With the league almost wrapped up, attention has turned to United maybe breaking the record points total for a season. I can't say I'm that optimistic though because if memory serves, over the previous 20 Prem seasons, once the league is mathematically over (either in United's favour or not), we tend to take our foot off the gas. So, by the time your next column comes around, the title could be won with four games to go so, my question is, does United's points average over the last four games, over the last 20 seasons, suggest we'll break the record or not? If you print and answer my question then Sky Bet will be getting a few quid based on your response! Thanks Andy Eyre
MARTIN SAYS: The Premier League points record currently stands at 95, which is what Chelsea picked up in the 2004/05 season under Jose Mourinho. United would need to win all four of their final games to break that record and reach 96.
Thanks to the boffins at Opta, I can tell you that Manchester United have closed the season with four wins on four occasions in Premier League history. They did it in the first ever campaign in 1992/93, in their title-winning seasons of 1999/2000 and 2002/03 and in 2009/10 when they finished second to Chelsea. So it is certainly possible!
Their own points record for a 38-game season is the 91 they earned in 1999/2000 and after beating Aston Villa they need seven more points to match that tally. There have only been three seasons in Premier League history when they've picked up fewer than that in the last four games; they picked up just six in 1996/97 when they comfortably finished as champions; they picked up just four in 2003/04 when they finished third behind Arsenal's Invincibles and they picked up only three points in 2000/01 when they already had the league won.
On average they pick up 8.35 points from their final four games and they have picked up exactly seven points in six of their last eight seasons. Let us know if you decide to place some money at Sky Bet!
Manchester United's record in the last four games of every Premier League season:
2011/12: 7 POINTS (WWLD)
2010/11: 7 POINTS (WDWL)
2009/10: 12 POINTS (WWWW)
2008/09: 10 POINTS (WDWW)
2007/08: 7 POINTS (WWLD)
2006/07: 7 POINTS (LDWW)
2005/06: 7 POINTS (WDLW)
2004/05: 7 POINTS (WLDW)
2003/04: 4 POINTS (WDLL)
2002/03: 12 POINTS (WWWW)
2001/02: 7 POINTS (DLWW)
2000/01: 3 POINTS (LLLW)
1999/00: 12 POINTS (WWWW)
1998/99: 8 POINTS (WDWD)
1997/98: 10 POINTS (WWWD)
1996/97: 6 POINTS (WDDD)
1995/96: 9 POINTS (WWWL)
1994/95: 10 POINTS (DWWW)
1993/94: 10 POINTS (DWWW)
1992/93: 12 POINTS (WWWW)
LITTLE ENGLAND
Dear Martin. As a West Brom fan I noticed all season that we haven't had an English goalscorer - but that all changed on Saturday when Billy Jones scored against Newcastle. Has a team ever gone through an entire Premier League season with just one English goalscorer before? Finlay Cooper (West Brom fan)
MARTIN SAYS: It's not such a rare occurrence for a team to go through an entire Premier League season with just one Englishman scoring. For example, last season Wigan went through the entire campaign with Ben Watson as their sole English scorer and in the two seasons before that we've seen two sides in each campaign with only one English scorer. In 2010/11 it was Blackburn (David Dunn) and West Brom (Jerome Thomas); in 2009/10 it was Arsenal (Theo Walcott) and Blackburn (Dunn).
However, West Brom have missed out on becoming only the second team in the history of the Premier League to go through an entire campaign with ZERO English scorers. Excluding own goals, Fulham scored 48 goals in 2005/06 and none of their goalscorers were English.
Fulham goalscorers in 2005/06 season:
Collins John (Netherlands): 11
Brian McBride (USA): 9
Heidar Helguson (Iceland): 8
Luis Boa Morte (Portugal): 6
Steed Malbranque (France): 6
Claus Jensen (Denmark): 2
Papa Bouba Diop (Senegal): 2
Tomasz Radzinski (Canada): 2
Carlos Bocanegra (1)
The likes of Zat Knight, Liam Rosenior, Wayne Bridge, Ian Pearce and Michael Brown all played more than five times for Fulham in that Premier League season but failed to find the scoresheet
In fact, the only Fulham goal scored by an Englishman in that Premier League campaign was scored - ironically - by a West Brom player when Curtis Davies scored in a 6-1 defeat of the Baggies at Craven Cottage!
NAMESAKES NETTING
Dear Martin. Great column. I make a point to read it every week. I noticed that Norwich had two players called Bennett who both scored against Reading on Saturday. Has this happened before? How many times have players with the same surname scored for one team in the same game? I can't imagine Phil and Gary Neville ever both scored in the same match for Man U! Chris Hodge (Arsenal fan)
MARTIN SAYS: This is the sixth occasion in Premier League history that two players with the same surname have scored for the same team in the same game (and you're right, the Nevilles never did it...) Thanks to Opta, I can tell you that the six occasions are:
01/04/2000: MARK AND STEPHEN HUGHES
The first time this happened was April Fools' Day in 2000 when both Mark Hughes and Stephen Hughes scored for Everton in a 4-2 win over Watford at Goodison Park.
12/02/2006: DARREN AND MARCUS BENT
Charlton boasted a twin 'Bent' strike partnership at times during the 2005/06 season and both were on the scoresheet during a clash at Manchester City in February 2006. Unfortunately, they were on the wrong end of the result as they lost 3-2.
01/03/2008: JOE AND ASHLEY COLE
Ashley Cole and his former England and Chelsea team-mate Joe Cole have played together many times and both found themselves on the scoresheet at Upton Park in March 2008. Chelsea won the game 4-0 despite the dismissal of Frank Lampard. Neither of these players ever shared the scoresheet with another former Chelsea Cole - Carlton Cole.
15/01/2011: KOLO AND YAYA TOURE
In January 2011, Kolo and Yaya Toure became the first brothers to score for the same team in the same Premier League game when they both netted for Manchester City in a 4-3 win over Wolves at Eastlands.
13/05/2012: MARK AND KEVIN DAVIES
On the final day of last season, both Mark Davies and Kevin Davies scored for Bolton in their crunch clash away at Stoke. Despite the statistical quirk, neither will remember the day fondly because they failed to find the winner that would have kept them in the Premier League and a 2-2 draw saw them relegated.
20/04/2013: ELLIOTT AND RYAN BENNETT
Last weekend Elliott and Ryan Bennett became the sixth pair of namesakes to net for the same Premier League side in the same game when they scored the vital goals in Norwich's 2-1 home win over Reading.
