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Tyler's Starting Stat - Onuoha's lucky number
I was at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday where Nedum Onuoha scored his first Premier League goal of the campaign in Manchester City's 33rd game of the season. His previous league goal was in a 4-2 win over West Brom last season - which was also City's 33rd game of the season. The biorhythms are obviously right for him at this time of year!
It is only one goal for Onuoha after Carlos Tevez claimed the earlier goal in the game. On a personal note, I find it hard to understand how Tevez can claim that goal - and not the one that he deflected in from an Emmanuel Adebayor shot the week before. However, Tevez has given that goal against Burnley to Adebayor. Logically, Tevez should be adding two goals to his tally or none at all. Perhaps it's just easier to claim one from a defender rather than another striker!
Meanwhile, Birmingham continued their poor Premier League record at Manchester City. Their away record at City now reads: P6 W0 D1 L5. They did however manage to score only their second goal in those matches; the previous one came from Jiri Jarosik in a 4-1 defeat. The goal also had personal value for Cameron Jerome as he became the first Birmingham player since Emile Heskey in 2004/05 to score 10 Premier Legaue goals in a season. However, he is unlikely to match Mikael Forssell's 17 goals of 2003/04.
City are now 21 points better off than they were at the same stage last season. They have won 20 of their last 26 home games, drawing four and losing only two since December 2008. The defeats were against Everton recently and Fulham on April 12 2009, which sets us up nicely for the Manchester derby at the weekend...
ALL TO PLAY FOUR
Hi Martin. Despite our draw at Blackburn and Chelsea's win over Bolton I still haven't given up hope of United clinching the title! We need Chelsea to drop four points from their last four games to give us a chance, though. How many times have league leaders dropped that many at this stage of the season? Tom (Manchester United fan)
MARTIN SAYS: Thanks for your question, Tom. You'll be pleased to hear league leaders dropping four or more points from their last four games is a common occurrence. In seven of the 17 completed Premier League seasons the table-toppers with four games to play have dropped four or more points from their remaining fixtures (but of course, the league was often already decided by then).
Furthermore - and this is not good news for you, Tom - every team that has topped the Premier League with four games to go (as Chelsea are doing now) has gone on to win the title.
The most points dropped in the final four games of a Premier League campaign is nine, when Manchester United lost their three final matches against Derby, Southampton and Tottenham in 2000/2001 (the last time United lost three in a row). We should point out, though, that United were 14 points clear at the top of the table with four games to go, so could be forgiven for taking their foot off the gas.
Points dropped by league leaders in final four games:
Season Top with 4 games left Points Final points Points dropped
2009/10 Chelsea 77 TBC TBC
2008/09 Man Utd 80 90 2
2007/08 Man Utd 80 87 5
2006/07 Man Utd 82 89 5
2005/06 Chelsea 85 91 6
2004/05 Chelsea 85 95 2
2003/04 Arsenal 82 90 4
2002/03 Man Utd 71 83 0
2001/02 Arsenal 75 87 0
2000/01 Man Utd 77 80 9
1999/00 Man Utd 79 91 0
1998/99 Man Utd 69 79 2
1997/98 Arsenal 72 78 6
1996/97 Man Utd 69 75 6
1995/96 Man Utd 73 82 3
1994/95 Blackburn 83 89 6
1993/94 Man Utd 82 92 2
1992/93 Man Utd 72 84 0
TOP BUT NOT TOP SCORER
Hi Martin, I love to read your column. I am an Arsenal fan from India. As the title chase is nearing its end and Arsenal still in the mix, I was wondering has any team ever finished first without having its top goalscorer in the top five in EPL as Cesc will not be making the top five due to injuries (otherwise he would have..). Hoping for a positive answer. Ankur Tyagi
MARTIN SAYS: Thirteen of the 17 Premier League champions to date featured a player in the top five of that season's goalscoring charts. As you can see from the table below, six of the Premier League's Golden Boot winners played for that season's champions.
The last time the title-winners didn't have a player in the top five of the scoring charts was 2000/01 when Manchester United's Teddy Sheringham finished sixth in the standings.
The other three occasions all involved Manchester United's Eric Cantona. He was United's top goalscorer in their title-winning seasons of 1993, 1994 and 1996 but on each of those occasions he failed to make the top five goalscorers.
Season Champions Top scorer Goals Position in chart
2008/09 Man Utd Ronaldo 18 2nd
2007/08 Man Utd Ronaldo 31 1st
2006/07 Man Utd Ronaldo 17 3rd
2005/06 Chelsea Lampard 16 4th
2004/05 Chelsea Lampard 13 4th
2003/04 Arsenal Henry 30 1st
2002/03 Man Utd van Nistelrooy 25 1st
2001/02 Arsenal Henry 24 1st
2000/01 Man Utd Sheringham 15 6th
1999/00 Man Utd Yorke 20 3rd
1998/99 Man Utd Yorke 18 1st
1997/98 Arsenal Bergkamp 16 4th
1996/97 Man Utd Solskjaer 18 3rd
1995/96 Man Utd Cantona 14 9th
1994/95 Blackburn Shearer 34 1st
1993/94 Man Utd Cantona 18 8th
1992/93 Man Utd Cantona 15 7th
MESSI MAGIC
I'm sure I'm not the only person to ask this, but is Lionel Messi the first player to score four goals in one Champions League game? Martin Hunt
MARTIN SAYS: Messi became the sixth player to hit four in a game since the competition was rebranded as the Champions League. The previous five were the following:
Andriy Shevchenko (Fenerbahce SK 0-4 AC Milan, 23/11/2005)
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United FC 4-1 AC Sparta Prague, 03/11/2004)
Dado Prso (Monaco FC 8-3 RC Deportivo La Coruna, 05/11/2003)
Simone Inzaghi (Lazio 5-1 Marseille, 14/03/2000)
Marco van Basten (AC Milan 4-0 IFK Gothenburg, 25/11/1992)
Going further back in time, we can find a further two players who have scored four in a European Cup game. Sándor Kocsis of Barcelona scored four goals against Wolves in the quarter-final of 1960. So exactly 50 years ago, another English team conceded four goals to a Barcelona player in the quarter-final of the European Cup! I find that remarkable!
However, one man has scored four in a European Cup Final. In the 1960 season, Ferenc Puskas hit four goals for Real Madrid in the final against Eintracht Frankfurt, a game which the Spaniards won 7-3.
I would also like to mention Dennis Viollet, who scored four goals in the return leg of Manchester United's first ever European Cup tie against Anderlecht in the 1956 preliminary round. The score finished 10-0 to United and the game was played at Maine Road as Old Trafford didn't have floodlights!
JOY IN THE CORNER?
Hi Martin! I've been thinking all season how bad Man United are from corners. I can only remember Vidic scoring against Wolves as a direct result from a corner. Are United the team in the league with the lowest scoring ratio from corners? They must be - they've had hundreds of them. Kind regards. Mats Svensson, Eskilstuna, Sweden.
MARTIN SAYS: Our friends at Opta have looked into this for you, Mats, and I can tell you that Manchester United have scored four goals from corners this season - all in home games. There is Michael Carrick against Everton, Nemanja Vidic against Wolves plus goals from Wayne Rooney against Hull City and Portsmouth. When you consider that United have received 274 corners this season (more than anybody else ahead of the midweek fixtures), that is not a high return. Only 1.46% of their corners result in goals.
However, that is not the worst conversion rate in the Premier League. Fulham have only scored twice from their 156 corners this season, while Burnley are yet to score a single goal from a corner - despite having received 160 of them this season.
At the other end of the scale, Manchester City have the best corner conversion rate, having scored 15 goals from 207 corners this season. That means that 7.25% of their corners result in goals.
Premier League corner conversion rates:
Team Corners taken Goals from corners % of corners resulting in a goal
Manchester City 207 15 7.25
Aston Villa 196 11 5.61
Blackburn Rovers 164 9 5.49
Stoke City 169 8 4.73
Sunderland 161 7 4.35
Portsmouth 166 7 4.22
Liverpool 240 10 4.17
West Ham United 168 7 4.17
Hull City 133 5 3.76
Everton 193 7 3.63
Tottenham Hotspur 198 7 3.54
Arsenal 231 7 3.03
Chelsea 269 7 2.6
Birmingham 163 4 2.45
Bolton 169 4 2.37
Wigan 150 3 2
Wolves 181 3 1.66
Manchester United 274 4 1.46
Fulham 156 2 1.28
Burnley 160 0 0
SURVIVAL STATS
I'm wondering which team is more likely to survive in the Premier League next season: Newcastle or West Brom? According to the stats, are the champions or the runners-up of the Championship more likely to survive in the Premier League? Jim Maligani (Newcastle fan)
MARTIN SAYS: We've looked at the teams that have been promoted into the Premier League in every season since it began and whether or not they survived. It's worth noting that we can't yet comment on last season's champions Wolves as their survival has not yet been assured, but we have included last year's runners-up Birmingham who are officially safe. It's also worth noting that in the 1994/95 season, only champions Middlesbrough were promoted automatically. Runners-up Reading went into the play-offs and were unsuccessful so they are not included in this list.
Remarkably, of the 17 champions in our list, 10 of them avoided relegation. Of the 17 runners-up in our list, 10 avoided relegation. So the stats currently suggest that you have an equal chance of survival whether you come up as champions or runners-up. Further good news for Newcastle and West Brom is that around 59% of sides which are promoted automatically, avoid relegation in their first season.
Season Champions Survived? Runners-up Survived?
2008/09 Wolves TBC Birmingham Yes
2007/08 West Brom No Stoke City Yes
2006/07 Sunderland Yes Birmingham No
2005/06 Reading Yes Sheff Utd No
2004/05 Sunderland No Wigan Yes
2003/04 Norwich No West Brom Yes
2002/03 Portsmouth Yes Leicester No
2001/02 Man City Yes West Brom No
2000/01 Fulham Yes Blackburn Yes
1999/00 Charlton Yes Man City No
1998/99 Sunderland Yes Bradford Yes
1997/98 N Forest No Middlesbrough Yes
1996/97 Bolton No Barnsley No
1995/96 Sunderland No Derby Yes
1994/95 Middlesbrough Yes Reading n/a
1993/94 C Palace No N Forest Yes
1992/93 Newcastle Yes West Ham Yes
1991/92 Ipswich Yes Middlesbrough No
TOTAL 10/17 (58.8%) 10/17 (58.8%)
THE STRIFE OF BRIAN
Martin. I heard Brian Laws has the worst record of any manager in Premier League history. Is this true? Anthony Birtill.
MARTIN SAYS: In terms of points per game, Brian Laws had the worst record of any full-time manager in Premier League history before Saturday's victory over Hull. Before Saturday he had picked up just 0.31 points per game - but that win has taken his record up to 0.5 points per game and he is no longer top (or should that be bottom?) of this particular list.
Opta have produced a table of the points per game records of any manager who has managed for 10 or more games in the Premier League. The worst record is now held by Billy Davies who only picked up six points in his 14 games with Derby in the Premier League. Other names in the list include Roy McFarland (Bolton), Kevin Ball (Sunderland), Sammy Lee (Bolton) and Mick McCarthy (Sunderland / Wolves).
Please note this list only includes managers with at least 10 games in charge:
Manager Games Won Drew Lost Points per Game
Billy Davies 14 1 3 10 .43
Roy McFarland 22 2 4 16 .45
Brian Laws 14 2 1 11 .50
Kevin Ball 10 1 2 7 .50
Sammy Lee 11 1 3 7 .55
Mick McCarthy 71 10 13 48 .61
Chris Hutchings 24 3 6 15 .63
Gary Megson 53 7 14 32 0.66
Mark McGhee 24 3 7 14 .67
Steve Wigley 16 1 8 7 .69
