Skip to content

Martin Tyler's stats and facts: Who has more caps than Mart Poom?

Can you answer Martin Tyler's teaser on international centurions?

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back. Read on to find out which players have made the most tackles and interceptions and the last time an England team was dominated by Arsenal...

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 tests your knowledge of players from London clubs.

Send your questions to Martin

1: Email your posers to skysportsclub@bskyb.com

2. Use the feedback form at the bottom of this page.

3. Tweet @SkyFootball using the hashtag #TylersTeasers

Martin’s Starting Stats

England have won four in a row for the first time since March-June 2009 – when they beat Slovakia (4-0), Ukraine (2-1), Kazakhstan (4-0) and Andorra (6-0). England kept a clean sheet for the fifth match in a row – the last time they did that was in 2006 when they set a team record with six in a row. They can equal that at home to Slovenia.

Wayne Rooney got his 43rd international goal and his 99th cap. Against Slovenia it looks like he will become the ninth centurion in England history. Of those 43 goals, 31 are in competitive matches. He made it two in two against Estonia, having scored against them at home in 2007.

England have now played Estonia three times and have scored seven goals without conceding. It was only Estonia’s second home defeat in their last 10 games. They had won three and drawn one of the previous four.

England have now lost only one of the last 31 qualifiers. They took their tally of goals in the European Championship to 198. The record is P93 W59 D24 L10 F198 A55

One interesting thing about England’s starting midfield against Estonia was that they have no goals between them; Jack Wilshere in 24 games, Jordan Henderson in 17, Adam Lallana in 11 and Fabian Delph in three. Raheem Sterling, who also came on, has not scored in 11 games. James Milner, who started in midfield against San Marino has just one in 51. The only goalscorers in the current squad are Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with three in 18 and Andros Townsend with two goals in six games.

England’s Arsenal

Image: Oxlade-Chamberlain: made it five Arsenal players when he came on

Hi Martin. It’s always been stated lately about how many foreign players are playing at Arsenal and often how many French. But watching England game tonight there was 5 Arsenal players in England squad, four in the starting line-up and all five on the pitch for a period in the second half. When was last time Arsenal had 5 players in an England team? Matt Melinn - Arsenal fan

MARTIN SAYS: As you say, England had five players on the pitch in the second half of the game against San Marino when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came on to join Calum Chambers, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck.

Thanks to Opta I can tell you that the last time five Arsenal players played for England in the same game was November 1988 against Saudi Arabia when Tony Adams, Michael Thomas and David Rocastle started the game – and then Brian Marwood and my Sky Sports colleague Alan Smith came off the bench in the second half.

Arsenal actually had seven players in the England team in 1934 in a friendly against world champions Italy when Frank Moss, George Male, Eddie Hapgood, Wilf Copping, Ray Bowden, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin all played in a game– appropriately enough - at Highbury. Contrary to popular opinion I didn’t commentate on that one!

Too many 2-2’s

Image: Everton 2-2 Arsenal: witnessed by Martin Tyler

Dear Sky Sports / Martin Tyler. There's seemingly been a lot of 2-2 draws in the Premier League this season. What is the all-time record for 2-2 draws in one season in the Premier League, or of any score in one season? Lewis Murray, Glasgow

MARTIN SAYS: You’re absolutely right. There has been a high number of draws – and specifically 2-2 draws this season.

We have seen 10 games finish as 2-2 draws in just seven rounds of matches:

Week 1: West Brom 2-2 Sunderland, Leicester 2-2 Everton

Week 2: Everton 2-2 Arsenal

Week 3: None

Week 4: Arsenal 2-2 Man City, Sunderland 2-2 Tottenham, Hull 2-2 West Ham

Week 5: QPR 2-2 Stoke, Newcastle 2-2 Hull

Week 6: None

Week 7: Leicester 2-2 Burnley, Swansea 2-2 Newcastle

I watched Leicester v Everton and commentated on the Everton v Arsenal game. They are certainly exciting games to be at (and the Everton game warmed me up after the ice bucket challenge I received from Roberto Martinez at Goodison Park that day).

Back in 2005/06 we only saw 11 games finish 2-2 in the entire Premier League season, so we are already close to that tally.

There have now been 429 2-2 draws in Premier League history and on average we see 19 per season. The record for one season is 27, which was achieved in both 2010/11 and 2012/13. At the current rate of one 2-2 draw in every seven games we are on course to double that total. At the current rate, we will see 54 Premier League games end 2-2 by the end of the season!

Overall, 23 of the 70 games played so far have finished as draws – which is 32.9%. That’s a higher ratio of draws than we’ve seen in any completed Premier League season.

The record was set in 1996/97 when we saw 119 draws in 380 games (a draw percentage of 31.3%). In 2005/06 only 77 games ended in draws – a draw percentage of just 20.3%.

Tackling the question

Mile Jedinak: Crystal Palace captain
Image: Mile Jedinak: makes the most tackles

Which player has made the most tackles and interceptions this season so far? All time? Regards, Dan Smith

MARTIN SAYS: You might be surprised to hear that the answer to both questions is the same player. Crystal Palace captain Mile Jedinak has tackled more than any other player in the top flight this season and has also made the most interceptions.

In terms of tackling, he has completed 36 this season according to Opta, which is six more than any other player.

Most tackles in the Premier League this season:

Mile Jedinak (36)

Craig Gardner, Nathaniel Clyne (30)

Patrick van Aanholt (29)

Morgan Schneiderlin (28)

Ritchie de Laet, Victor Wanyama (25)

Jordan Henderson (24)

Andrew Robertson, Mohamed Diamé, César Azpilicueta (23)

Jedinak has also made 26 interceptions, which is one more than Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny.

Most interceptions in the Premier League this season:

Mile Jedinak (26)

Laurent Koscielny (25)

Ritchie de Laet (24)

Etienne Capoue, Andrew Robertson (23)

Patrick van Aanholt, Younes Kaboul, Curtis Davies (22)

Angel Rangel, Jose Fonte (21)

As for the all-time list, I’m afraid Opta have only been keeping data on tackles and interceptions since the start of the 2005/06 season, but in that time we’ve seen Scott Parker make far more tackles than anybody else. In fact, he has made 91 more tackles than his nearest rival Gareth Barry.

Most tackles in the Premier League since 2005/06:

Scott Parker (975)

Gareth Barry (884)

Gaël Clichy (837)

Nigel Reo-Coker (769)

Lucas Leiva (760)

Mikel Arteta (755)

Patrice Evra (750)

Michael Carrick (748)

Sylvain Distin (712)

Lee Cattermole (706)

When it comes to interceptions, Man City full-back Gael Clichy is way out in front. He has made 716 interceptions in this time frame, which is 95 more than Michael Carrick in second place.

Most interceptions in the Premier League since 2005/06:

Gaël Clichy (716)

Michael Carrick (611)

Sylvain Distin (597)

Scott Parker (594)

Gareth Barry (588)

Mikel Arteta (520)

Dean Whitehead (509)

Morten Gamst Pedersen (502)

Leon Osman (497)

Benoit Assou-Ekotto (493)

Back-to-back wins

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew during the game with Hull City
Image: Alan Pardew and Steve Bruce: struggled with getting back-to-back wins

@SkyFootball #TylersTeasers When was the last time Newcastle won back to back games? Matt @MKAlderson

MARTIN SAYS: The last time Newcastle won back-to-back games in the Premier League was last February / March when they won 1-0 at home to Aston Villa and then won 4-1 away at Hull.

They are one of 10 teams who are yet to win two games in a row this season – a list that includes Arsenal and Liverpool – along with Burnley, Everton, Hull, QPR, Stoke, Sunderland and West Ham.

Burnley have only ever once won back-to-back Premier League games – back in the August of their first Premier League season in 2009/10 when they beat Everton and Manchester United, while QPR’s last set of consecutive top-flight wins came in March 2013 when they beat Sunderland and Aston Villa. Both of those sides enjoyed plenty of back-to-back wins last season however.

The top-flight team with the longest wait for back-to-back league wins is not Newcastle. In fact, Hull City are on a much longer league run without consecutive wins. It is more than 12 months since Steve Bruce’s side won back-to-back games. Last September they won 3-2 at Newcastle and then beat West Ham 1-0. Since then they have not won back-to-back matches in the Premier League. They can end that run by winning away at Arsenal at the weekend.

Around Sky