Suarez's staggering scoring and losing hat-trick scorers ... Martin Tyler has all the stats!
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 - which comes from White Hart Lane.
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Martin's Starting Stats
I was at White Hart Lane on Super Sunday to watch Liverpool's biggest ever win at Tottenham and Spurs' biggest home defeat for 16 years since a 6-1 defeat to Chelsea on December 6 1997. Luis Suarez took his goal total to 17 goals in 11 Premier League games, while helping restrict Spurs to 15 goals in 16 games. Liverpool now have 39 goals this season (compared to Spurs' 15) and have netted 14 in their last three games - of which Suarez has scored eight.
Andre Villas- Boas would have become the quickest Tottenham manager to reach 100 Premier League points for Spurs but he finishes with 99 points. He ends with a record of P54 W29 D12 L13.
Jon Flanagan scored his first goal for Liverpool, while Glen Johnson played in his 350th club career game. Aaron Lennon made his 250th Premier League appearance, the first of which was against Spurs for Leeds at the age of 16 (becoming the Premier League's youngest player at the time). Sunday was Martin Skrtel's 29th birthday - good way to celebrate!
After five consecutive Premier League defeats at White Hart Lane, Liverpool won by a five-goal margin. Suarez took his total in the calendar year of 2013 to 27 in 25 and he hasn't scored a single penalty! In fact, he has failed to score with his only two Liverpool penalties (at home to Sunderland in 2011 and at home to Brighton in the FA Cup in 2012). He does have some weakness!
On Monday night, he was voted FSF player of 2013, which he attended to receive the award. It shows that despite the obvious criticisms of a couple of bits of bad behaviour, he is charming the country with his skill!
King Luis
Great column as always Martin, now I don't want this to become the Luis Suarez column but he keeps up these amazing performances every week but I was wondering with him on 17 goals already what is the record for goals by New Year and has he already smashed that record? Cheers Mark
MARTIN SAYS: Luis Suarez has scored 17 Premier League goals this season and is only the seventh player to score that many goals before New Year's Eve in a Premier League season. He is now only two goals away from the record for most goals scored by one player before the turn of the year and is on course to become the first man to score 20 Premier League goals before January 1.
The record for goals by New Year's Eve in the Premier League era is 19 and is currently shared between three men. The first man to do it was Andrew Cole, who scored 19 for Newcastle in 1993/94 - however he played 22 games before the turn of the year. The second man to hit that tally was Alan Shearer for Blackburn in 1995/96, but he had 21 games to do it and more recently Kevin Phillips scored 19 goals before New Year's Eve in 1999/2000 in just 18 matches.
Remarkably, Suarez has hit 17 goals in just 11 matches to date and has three more games to match or break the record. Below, we have detailed the eight players to have scored more than 15 Premier League goals before the turn of the year. Alan Shearer has done it four times, while Thierry Henry and Robbie Fowler have done it twice.
| Player | Season | Goals by New Year's Eve | Games |
| Andrew Cole | 1993/94 | 19 | 22 |
| Kevin Phillips | 1999/00 | 19 | 18 |
| Alan Shearer | 1995/96 | 19 | 21 |
| Les Ferdinand | 1995/96 | 18 | 20 |
| Robbie Fowler | 1994/95 | 18 | 22 |
| Alan Shearer | 1993/94 | 18 | 20 |
| Alan Shearer | 1994/95 | 17 | 21 |
| Luis Suarez | 2013/14 | 17 | 11 |
| Robin van Persie | 2011/12 | 17 | 19 |
| Robbie Fowler | 1995/96 | 16 | 20 |
| Thierry Henry | 2001/02 | 16 | 19 |
| Thierry Henry | 2004/05 | 16 | 20 |
| Alan Shearer | 1992/93 | 16 | 21 |
Full English
Hi Martin. After the Spurs v Liverpool game at the weekend, could you settle a bet for me with my friends? I was wondering if you could tell me the last time a Premiership game had three different English players score in one game? John Roberts
MARTIN SAYS: Liverpool had three English goalscorers on Super Sunday with Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Jon Flanagan all getting on the scoresheet and it is the fifth time this season that three English players have scored in the same game. However, it is the third time it has happened in December and you only have to go back 11 days previous to find the last occasion. That was the 3-2 win for Aston Villa at Southampton when Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Fabian Delph and Southampton's Jay Rodriguez all scored.
The five games with three English goalscorers this season are as follows:
15/12/13: Tottenham 0-5 Liverpool (Henderson, Flanagan, Sterling)
04/12/13: Southampton 2-3 Aston Villa (Rodriguez, Agbonlahor, Delph)
01/12/13: Chelsea 3-1 Southampton (Cahill, Terry, Rodriguez)
Liverpool 3-1 Crystal Palace (Sturridge, Gerrard, Gayle)
21/09/13: West Ham 2-3 Everton (Morrison, Noble, Baines 2)
So this was the first game this season where three Englishmen have scored for the same club.
For the last Premier League game with four English goalscorers you have to go back just under a year to Stoke's 3-3 draw with Southampton at the Britannia Stadium last December. Matthew Upson and Cameron Jerome both scored for Stoke, while Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez netted for Southampton. You could argue that one of the other goals was scored by an Englishman as well because Southampton's third was an Andy Wilkinson own goal. However, we do not count that as a goal scored by an English player.
Goalless Hammers
Dear Martin. Keep up the great work with your column. I'm a West Ham fan, home and away, and have watched five 0-0 draws this season. I was wondering if a team has ever had so many goalless draws in a season and, if so, where did they end up at the end of the season? Bobbie Hodgers (West Ham fan)
MARTIN SAYS: West Ham have drawn five of their first 16 Premier League games 0-0 this season - against Sunderland, Aston Villa, Swansea, Southampton and Newcastle. At the current rate they are on course to finish with 12 goalless draws, which would be a record for a 38-game Premier League season.
West Ham's current record for a Premier League season is seven 0-0 draws, which came in 1998/99. That season they finished in fifth place, which is their highest ever Premier League finish - so maybe a lot of 0-0 draws isn't such a bad thing! In fact, in the same season Arsenal drew seven games 0-0 and finished second!
The record for a complete 38-game Premier League season is nine goalless draws. That was achieved by Leeds United in the 1996/97 campaign. However, unlike West Ham who have had five goalless draws in their first 16 matches, Leeds did not have a 0-0 draw until their 16th match of the season against Middlesbrough. They drew their next two games 0-0 as well - against Tottenham and Everton - and also drew 0-0 with Derby, Arsenal, Southampton, Blackburn, Aston Villa and Chelsea after the turn of the year. They finished the season firmly in mid-table in 11th place.
One other side has ended a Premier League season with nine 0-0 draws - Sheffield United in 1993/94 - but that was a 42-game season. The Blades were relegated that year.
Thanks to Opta we have detailed all of the teams who have finished a 38-game Premier League season with more than six 0-0 draws. You'll notice that none of them were relegated.
| Season | Team | 0-0 draws | Final position |
| 1996/97 | Leeds | 9 | 11th |
| 2001/02 | Fulham | 8 | 13th |
| 1998/99 | Everton | 8 | 14th |
| 1997/98 | Wimbledon | 8 | 15th |
| 2008/09 | Fulham | 8 | 7th |
| 1998/99 | Arsenal | 7 | 2nd |
| 2006/07 | Man City | 7 | 14th |
| 2000/01 | Tottenham | 7 | 12th |
| 2011/12 | Aston Villa | 7 | 16th |
| 2009/10 | Blackburn | 7 | 10th |
| 1998/99 | West Ham | 7 | 5th |
| 2003/04 | Birmingham | 7 | 10th |
Losing hat-tricks
Dear Martin. Theo Walcott scored twice for Arsenal on Saturday and still ended up on the losing side. This got me wondering, has a player ever scored a Premier League hat-trick and yet finished up on the losing team? Marcus (Arsenal fan)
MARTIN SAYS: Thanks to those clever chaps at Opta, I can tell you that Saturday was the 125th instance of a player scoring two or more Premier League goals and ending up on the losing side. He is the fifth Arsenal player to suffer that fate (after Ian Wright v Wimbledon in 1992, Dennis Bergkamp v Aston Villa in 1998, Thierry Henry v Charlton in 2001 and Samir Nasri v West Brom in 2010). Walcott also became the third player to suffer that fate this season following Andre Schurrle's losing brace for Chelsea against Stoke and Loic Remy's losing brace for Newcastle against Hull.
Two answer your question, we have seen four players score hat-tricks in the Premier League and yet end up on the losing side - including one man who has scored trebles twice and ended up on the wrong end of the scoreline. We have detailed those for you below:
ROQUE SANTA CRUZ - The former Blackburn striker scored a hat-trick for Rovers against Wigan on December 12, 2007 to pull his side level after going 3-0 down, but they conceded two further goals and lost 5-3.
DWIGHT YORKE - My Sky Sports colleague scored three goals for Aston Villa against Newcastle in a Monday Night Football match on September 30, 1996 - but his team still ended up losing 4-3.
DION DUBLIN - Dion Dublin scored a hat-trick for Coventry against Sheffield Wednesday on December 4, 1995 and gave his side the lead on three occasions in the match, but they still ended up on the wrong side of the result as the Owls claimed a 4-3 victory.
MATT LE TISSIER - Finally, another Sky Sports colleague Matt Le Tissier managed to TWICE score Premier League hat-tricks for Southampton and yet end up on the losing side. The first occasion was against Oldham on May 8 1993 when the Saints lost 4-3 at Boundary Park. It was the game that kept Oldham up. It happened again against Nottingham Forest on August 19, 1995 when he scored a treble - including two penalties - at The Dell and yet his side lost 4-3.
Leaky neighbours
Dear Martin. Arsenal and Tottenham conceded 11 goals between them in the Premier League this weekend. This got me wondering about the worst weekends for other local rivals. What is the most goals the two Merseyside clubs have conceded on the same weekend? And what about the Manchester clubs? Can any of them match the 11 goals conceded by the North London teams? Kris (West Ham fan)
MARTIN SAYS: You're right to say the North London sides conceded a combined 11 goals this weekend, but that's not the worst Matchday we have seen from those two sides in terms of goals conceded. Back in August 2011, you may remember that Arsenal lost 8-2 to Manchester United and Tottenham were beaten 5-1 by Manchester City on the same day. That's 13 goals conceded on the same day!
We've asked Opta to go through some of the other local rivals to have played in the Premier League and tell us their worst matchdays in terms of combined goals conceded. We've selected a sample of the rivalries to have played in the Premier League over the years - so apologies if the rivalry in your area isn't mentioned below:
ARSENAL AND TOTTENHAM - 13 goals conceded (28 August 2011)
As mentioned above Arsenal lost 8-2 at Old Trafford just a few hours after Tottenham had lost 5-1 at home to Manchester City.
LIVERPOOL AND EVERTON - 8 goals conceded (15/16 August 2009)
The worst combined Matchday for the Merseyside clubs came when Everton were beaten 6-1 by Arsenal, while Liverpool lost 2-1 to Tottenham for a combined eight goals conceded.
MANCHESTER CITY AND MANCHESTER UNITED - 8 goals conceded (11 May 2008 & 19 May 2013)
The Manchester clubs have twice shipped a combined eight goals. In May 2011, Man City lost 8-0 to Middlesbrough while Manchester United kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Wigan. Then on the final day of last season, Manchester United conceded five times in a 5-5 draw with West Brom, while City lost 3-2 to Norwich.
NEWCASTLE AND SUNDERLAND - 12 goals conceded (April 27 & 29 2013)
The worst weekend for the North East clubs came last April when Newcastle lost 6-0 at home to Liverpool on Saturday afternoon before Sunderland travelled to Villa Park on Monday night and lost 6-1 to Aston Villa.
SOUTHAMPTON AND PORTSMOUTH - 6 goals conceded (18/19 December 2004 & 2/3 April 2005)
The South Coast clubs have twice conceded a combined six goals; firstly in December 2004 when Southampton lost 5-1 to Tottenham and Portsmouth lost 1-0 to Arsenal, while in April 2005 they both lost 3-1 on the same day. Southampton lost to Chelsea and Pompey lost to Fulham.
ASTON VILLA AND BIRMINGHAM - 8 goals conceded (6 December 2003 & 27 March 2010)
The West Midlands rivals conceded a combined eight goals on two occasions. They both suffered 4-0 defeats on December 6 2003 with Villa losing to Manchester United and Birmingham losing to Blackburn. In March 2010, Villa lost 7-1 to Chelsea on the same day Arsenal beat Birmingham 1-0.
IPSWICH AND NORWICH - 10 goals conceded (4 March 1995)
The worst weekend for the East Anglia clubs in the Premier League came in March 1995. That day Norwich drew 1-1 with Manchester City, but Manchester United thrashed Ipswich 9-0
DERBY AND NOTTINGHAM FOREST - 9 goals conceded (5 March 1997 & 6/7 February 1999)
The East Midlands clubs have twice conceded nine Premier League goals on the same weekend. The first occasion was in March 1997 when Derby lost 6-1 to Middlesbrough and Forest lost 3-0 to Sheffield Wednesday. The other occasion came when Derby won 2-1 against Everton, but Forest slumped to an 8-1 loss against Manchester United.
Festive greetings to all the Sky Sports viewers and supporters of this column, wherever you are. I hope you get to see plenty of football over the holiday season and have a wonderful time. We'll be back in 2014 - World Cup year!
