Wednesday 11 March 2015 13:45, UK
This week, Martin Tyler's stats and facts column looks at those who can't stop scoring away from home, the worst yellow-card offenders and handy defenders.
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Martin’s Starting Stats
I commentated on Manchester United’s FA Cup defeat to Arsenal for international viewers on Monday night. It was Arsenal’s 27th FA Cup semi-final, equalling Manchester United’s all-time record. The two clubs are now levels on 11 wins and 18 finals – but Arsenal have the chance to move ahead.
It was Arsenal’s first win over Manchester United since May 2011 when they won 1-0 at the Emirates through an Aaron Ramsey goal. Manchester United had won 11 of the previous 15 meetings in all competitions.
It was the seventh time Arsenal have progressed in an FA Cup game against Manchester United, including the finals in 1979 and 2005. United had gone through on the other seven occasions in the 14 times they have been paired together.
Wayne Rooney scored his 14th goal against Arsenal in 31 appearances against them and Danny Welbeck scored his first goal against Manchester United. Nacho Monreal scored his second career goal for Arsenal; the other was in a 2-0 win at Swansea in March 2013.
It was Arsenal’s first win at Old Trafford since 2006 when they won 1-0 through Emmanuel Adebayor. It was Manchester United’s third defeat in their last 23 games in all competitions.
Domestically, Arsenal have now won six in a row and have won 11 of their last 12. The only defeat was at Tottenham on February 7. Perhaps all is not lost for them in the Champions League against Monaco?
Arsenal’s win means that Manchester United will play Chelsea on semi-final weekend (Saturday April 18) – a game you can see live on Sky Sports.
Away-day specialists
Harry Kane has scored in six away games in a row. Has anyone ever done better than that? (Mark, Islington)
MARTIN SAYS: Harry Kane has now scored in Tottenham’s last six Premier League away games against Queens Park Rangers, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Swansea City, a run stretching three months.
And that is the same as Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge, who both netted in six Premier League away matches in a row in 2009 and 2013 respectively.
However, Kane must now score in his next three league outings to equal the record currently held by Robin van Persie, who found the back of the net in nine consecutive Premier League away encounters for Arsenal four years ago. He’s the only player to have scored in more consecutive Premier League away games than Kane.
The Dutchman’s impressive scoring run started at Birmingham City on January 1, 2011, before continuing against West Ham, Newcastle, West Brom, Blackpool, Spurs, Bolton, Stoke and Fulham four months later. The run ended on the opening day of the next season in a 0-0 draw with Newcastle.
Kane needs to score against Manchester United on Super Sunday and then against Burnley and Newcastle to match it – and if he then scores against Southampton at the end of April he will break the record.
Yellow offenders
Has anyone picked up more yellow cards than Lee Cattermole? (Adam, Wearside)
MARTIN SAYS: Cattermole received his 10th yellow card of the season in his side’s 1-1 draw at Hull, making the midfielder just the second player so far in this campaign to achieve that unwarranted feat after Newcastle’s Jack Colback.
However, in terms of the all-time Premier League’s bookings table, Cattermole actually only currently sits in 16th place having been cautioned 72 times in his 10-year career with Middlesbrough, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland.
And that leaves Cattermole some way behind the Premier League’s most-booked player, Everton’s Gareth Barry, with the former Aston Villa and Manchester City midfielder having collected 103 yellow cards since making his debut at Villa Park in 1998.
Meanwhile, the next five players on the list are all no longer playing in the Premier League: Kevin Davies (99), Lee Bowyer (99), Paul Scholes (97), Scott Parker (92) and Robbie Savage (89), with Wayne Rooney (85), Kevin Nolan (84) and Richard Dunne (73) the only other current Premier League players with more bookings than Cattermole.
Assistance please
Patrick van Aanholt got his fourth assist of the season against Hull, but have any other defenders got more assists? (Kelly, Humberside)
MARTIN SAYS: Van Aanholt’s handy contributions down the left for Sunderland have been impressive, but he has a long way to go to overtake Leighton Baines. The Everton full-back has eight assists already this season.
Five of Baines’ eight assists have come from set pieces, four of those from free-kicks, and all but two came before November. The England international needs three assists between now and the end of the campaign to match his own Premier League record of 11 from a defender in 2010/11, which he shares with another former Everton player, Andy Hinchcliffe, in 1994/95.
Van Aanholt is third this season behind Baines and Newcastle right-back Daryl Janmaat, who has recorded six in his first-ever Premier League campaign. Tottenham’s Danny Rose, Burnley’s Kieran Trippier and West Ham’s Aaron Creswell also have four assists apiece.
The clean-sheet curse
Which team has kept the most clean sheets in a season? (Paul via Twitter)
MARTIN SAYS: According to our friends at Opta, Chelsea hold the record for most clean sheets in a Premier League campaign with 25 in 2004/05. They won the title that year under Jose Mourinho with a record 95 points, breaking a host of other records along the way, including most wins (29), most away wins (15) and fewest goals conceded (15).
Second on the list are Manchester United with 24 in their victorious 2008/09 campaign, but clean sheets don’t always equal titles. In fact, of the 22 Premier League seasons (including 42-game seasons), only six sides accompanied the best clean sheet record with the trophy.
Arsenal (23 clean sheets in 1998/99) lost out to Manchester United on the final day, Chelsea (22 in 2006/07 and 2008/09) finished six and seven points behind United respectively, Liverpool (22 in 2005/06) were a whopping 21 points short of United and Chelsea again (21 in 2003/04) finished short of Arsenal.
This season both Chelsea and Southampton lead the way with 13 clean sheets each – so will something give when they meet on Super Sunday this weekend?
Spot-on Villans
Aston Villa got their first penalty of the season against West Brom last night. Has a team ever gone a whole season without getting one? (Taylor, Cannock)
MARTIN SAYS: Seven sides have gone a whole campaign without winning a penalty; QPR (1994/95), Wimbledon (1998/99), Southampton (2000/01), Blackburn (2003/04), Charlton (2004/05), Swansea (2012/13) and Tottenham (2012/13).
However, Wimbledon's 1998/99 campaign came in the middle of an incredible 91-game drought without being given a spot-kick, stretching from November 1997 to March 2000, the longest spell in Premier League history.
