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Martin Tyler's stats and facts column: The Premier League's oldest and youngest

Can you answer Tyler's Teaser on former Man City and Chelsea stars

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for a new season. Read on to find out which player has made the most passes in a game and which was the quickest to 10 goals...

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 Man City and Chelsea players.

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 Stat

I was at Old Trafford on Sunday to see Wayne Rooney equal Thierry Henry on 175 Premier League goals to go joint third on the all-time list. Meanwhile, Juan Mata scored his 8th goal in his last 10 league appearances. Rafael played his first game this season, his 110th Premier League appearance overall.

Manchester United have now used 33 players in five games this season. Angel di Maria made his Old Trafford debut for Manchester United, but has played there before for Real Madrid in the controversial 2-1 game when Nani was sent off – Sir Alex Ferguson’s last Champions League game as a manager.

Rio Ferdinand made his 770th career appearance to coincide with his return to Old Trafford. It was his first appearances there as a visiting player since playing for Leeds in October 2001.

QPR have won only one of 28 visits to Manchester United in all competitions. Only three QPR players have ever scored at Old Trafford in the Premier League - Bradley Allen, Danny Dichio and Jamie Mackie.

More pass masters

Manchester United new signing Daley Blind at Old Trafford
Image: Daley Blind: completed 112 passes on Super Sunday

Daley Blind completed a whopping 112 passes vs QPR, but who completed the most in one game, in EPL history? #TylersTeasers @FutbolFinn

MARTIN SAYS: Opta only have records on this topic stretching back to the start of the 2006/07 season, but in that period we have seen a number of players complete more than 112 passes in a Premier League match.

The record belongs to Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure, who managed to complete 157 passes in a game against Stoke in December 2011. No other player has managed more than 140 passes in a single match in that period. Remarkably, Samir Nasri made 132 passes in the same game, which is the fifth highest total on our list. Man City won 3-0 that day.

You might be surprised to learn that Steven Caulker is second on the list. The defender, who was at Swansea City at the time, completed 137 passes against Newcastle in April 2012.

Players to complete more than 130 passes in a single Premier League game (2006/07 – present):

21/12/2011: Yaya Touré for Manchester City against Stoke City (157 PASSES)

06/04/2012: Steven Caulker for Swansea City against Newcastle (137 PASSES)

29/09/2012: Paul Scholes for Manchester United against Tottenham (135 PASSES)

22/02/2014: Michael Carrick for Manchester United against Crystal Palace (135 PASSES)

21/12/2011: Samir Nasri for Manchester City against Stoke City (132 PASSES)

Starters for 10

Diego Costa celebrates
Image: Diego Costa: has seven goals in four games

Diego Costa has got seven goals in just four games. Which player has got to double figures in the fewest games? Burlo

MARTIN SAYS: Diego Costa will need to score a hat-trick against Manchester City on Sunday to break the record as the quickest player to 10 goals.

The record is currently held by former Coventry striker Mick Quinn, who scored 10 times in his first six games in the Premier League. He played his first Premier League game against Manchester City in November 1992 and scored twice. He then scored one against Sheffield United and Ipswich, before hitting braces against Southampton, Liverpool and Aston Villa to reach 10. He then went on a two-game goal drought and ultimately finished the campaign on 17 goals. Of course he had played in the top division before, unlike Diego Costa.

The only other players to enjoy a strike rate of better than one goal per game in their first 10 Premier League games are Mark Viduka (for Leeds in 2000/01) and Papiss Cisse (for Newcastle in 2011/12)

Players reaching 10 Premier League goals in the fewest games from debut:

Mick Quinn - 6 games

Mark Viduka -  9 games

Papiss Demba Cissé - 9 games

Alan Shearer - 10 games

Kevin Phillips - 10 games

Sergio Agüero - 11 games

Andrew Cole - 13 games

Mark Robins, 14 games

Ian Wright - 14 games

Ruud van Nistelrooy - 14 games

Anthony Yeboah - 14 games

Robinho - 14 games

Goalscoring runs

26 Dec 2001:  Ruud Van Nistelrooy of Manchester United celebrates with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer v Everton
Image: Ruud Van Nistelrooy: scored in 10 straight games

What is the longest goalscoring run of games for a new player in the Premier League and also the longest goalscoring run of games in general for any player. I imagine Ronaldo, Shearer, Henry and maybe Suarez last season right up there for the second part of my last question? Dave

MARTIN SAYS: As mentioned in the previous answer, Mick Quinn scored in his first six appearances from debut for Coventry in the Premier League.

That is the record streak for a new Premier League player and Diego Costa is now second on the list, having netted in his first four.

A further seven players managed to score in their first three Premier League appearances – Michael Ricketts (Bolton, 2001), Brian Deane (Sheffield United, 1992), Adrian Mutu (Chelsea, 2003), Dalian Atkinson (Aston Villa, 1992), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Fulham, 2012) and Michu (Swansea, 2012).

However, the longest streak overall in the Premier League belongs to former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who scored in 10 consecutive Premier League appearances at the end of the 2002/03 season and the start of the 2003/04 season.

Starting on March 22 with a hat-trick against Fulham, he then went on to score against Liverpool (2), Newcastle, Arsenal, Blackburn, Tottenham, Charlton (3) and Everton. He then scored goals against Bolton and Newcastle in his first two appearances of the next season before drawing a blank against Wolves.

Van Nistelrooy is also second on Opta’s list, having netted in eight straight appearances between December 2001 and January 2002, a feat which was matched by Daniel Sturridge for Liverpool last season.

Longest goalscoring streaks in Premier League history:

Ruud van Nistelrooy, Manchester United: 10 appearances up to 23/08/2003

Ruud van Nistelrooy, Manchester United: 8 appearances up to 19/01/2002     

Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool: 8 appearances up to 23/02/14

Alan Shearer, Newcastle United: 7 appearances up to 30/11/1996

Thierry Henry, Arsenal: 7 appearances up to 09/05/2000

Ian Wright, Arsenal: 7 appearances up to 23/11/1994

Mark Stein, Chelsea: 7 appearances up to 05/02/1994

Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal: 7 appearances up to 11/02/2008

Uwe Rösler, Manchester City: 7 appearances up to 23/08/1995

Age concerns

Image: Burridge: the Premier League's oldest player

Great column. How about some answers to do with the ages of players? Who is the oldest player ever to feature in a PL match? Likewise, who is the youngest ever player in the PL? Which team had the youngest (starting) line up and which team had the oldest (starting) line up (Chelsea?)? Colin

MARTIN SAYS: The oldest player in Premier League history is John Burridge, who was aged 43years, 162 days when he played in goal for Manchester City against QPR in May 1995.

At the other end of the spectrum, the youngest player in Premier League history was Matthew Briggs, who played for Fulham against Middlesbrough at the age of 16 years, 68 days on May 13, 2007. He has only made 12 top-flight appearances since then.

Interestingly, the youngest team in Premier League history played in a Middlesbrough v Fulham match 12 months earlier. On May 7 2006, in his final game as manager, Steve McClaren named a young team where 15 members of the 16-man squad were born within 30 miles of the team’s home ground. The average age of the starting XI that day was just 20 years, 182 days.

The line-up was as follows: Ross Turnbull, Andrew Davies, Matthew Bates, David Wheater, Andrew Taylor, James Morrison, Lee Cattermole, Jason Kennedy, Adam Johnson, Danny Graham, Malcolm Christie

As for the oldest Premier League starting XI, it wasn’t Chelsea as you suggested. The Portsmouth team that played at Tottenham on March 27, 2010 had an average age of 32 years, 105 days.

 The line-up was as follows: David James, Herman Hreidarsson, Steve Finnan, Anthony Vanden Borre, Aaron Mokoena, Hayden Mullins, Michael Brown, Richard Hughes, Angelos Basinas, Frédéric Piquionne, Kanu

The point of dropping points

Diego Costa and Chelsea celebrate
Image: Chelsea: have the only 100% record

Hi Martin. I love your column. My team Chelsea have won all their games. Seems a slow start overall. What was the lowest game week where all teams had dropped points at that stage? Dave

MARTIN SAYS: Chelsea’s win over Swansea on Saturday means that they are now the only team that hasn’t dropped any points in the Premier League. The longest winning start to a Premier League season was achieved by Chelsea themselves in 2005/06 when they won their first nine matches before drawing 1-1 at Everton.

If the current Chelsea team win at Manchester City on Super Sunday, they would become only the seventh side in Premier League history to get through the first five games without dropping points. Chelsea have done that three times previously (9 games in 2005/2006, 6 games in 2009/2010 and 5 games in 2010/2011). The other sides to do it were Newcastle (1994/95), Arsenal (2004/05) and Manchester United (2011/12).

To answer your question, the earliest point in the season when every side had dropped points was after the second round of matches in 1998/99. Remarkably, no team secured two wins out of two at the start of that season.

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