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Martin Tyler's stats: Is Alexis Sanchez the Premier League's free-kick king?

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Martin Tyler gives you his latest teaser ahead of Chelsea's crucial trip to Old Trafford in the Premier League

Martin Tyler presents the best stats ahead of the next round of Premier League fixtures.

Who is the Premier League free-kick king? Which player provides the best minutes-to-goal contribution? Which manager has beaten the most Premier League teams?

Read on for the answers and don't forget to try to answer Martin's tricky teaser...

Send your questions to Martin in one of the following ways...

Use the comments box at the bottom of this page.

Tweet @SkyFootball using the hashtag #TylersTeasers

Martin's Starting Stats

On Super Sunday I commentated on the 50th Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United.

Also See:

United have won 14, drawn 19 and lost 17 of those 50. It was also the 150th meeting in league football and United's 60th win with 46 draws and 44 Chelsea wins.

It was United's first win against Chelsea in all competitions in 13 games going back to a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge in October 2012. It was only the fourth and fifth goal United have scored in the last 11 against Chelsea. They failed to score in seven of those games.

Asmir Begovic played his sixth game at Old Trafford and suffered his sixth defeat. In contrast, Nemanja Matic suffered his first defeat against them in 10 matches.

Michael Carrick made his 450th Manchester United appearance, the 19th United player to reach that milestone.

United are now 22 league games unbeaten but it was only their seventh home win in 17 Premier League games at Old Trafford this season.

Dead-ball kings

Where does Alexis Sanchez feature in the all-time list of direct free-kick scorers in Premier League history? (Jon, London)

MARTIN SAYS: Nowhere, Jon - he's not even in the top 10. In fact, he's four short of even gracing it as his stunning effort against Middlesbrough was only his fifth goal for Arsenal in the Premier League direct from a free-kick. I was lucky enough to commentate on it for the world coverage.

He's got some way to go to catch David Beckham at the top, who scored 15 times from a dead ball during his Premier League career for Manchester United. He doesn't look in much danger of losing that crown either considering the only current player in the top 10 is Seb Larsson on 11.

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Should Boro have stopped Sanchez?

Two of Sky Sports' finest grace the list with Thierry Henry three behind Beckham on 12 and Jamie Redknapp on nine.

Laurent Robert (11), Morten Gamst Pedersen (10) and Ian Harte (9) fly the flag for the left-footers while nine of Frank Lampard's 177 Premier League goals came from a dead ball.

Top PL direct free-kick scorers

Player Free-kick goals
David Beckham 15
Thierry Henry 12
Gianfranco Zola 12
Laurent Robert 11
Cristiano Ronaldo 11
Seb Larsson 11
Morten Gamst Pederson 10
Nolberto Solano 9
Frank Lampard 9
Ian Harte 9
Jamie Redknapp 9

Making a difference

Does Heung-Min Son get more goals and assists than any other player given how long he is on the pitch? (Alan, London)

MARTIN SAYS: Son has now been directly involved in six goals in his last four Premier League games, which takes his tally for the season to 16 goal contributions (12 goals, four assists).

We asked our friends at Opta for the best average goal contributions (scored or assisted) per minute in the Premier League this season and despite his recent surge in form, Son is still only sixth in the top 10 list (minimum of 10 goals involvement) in terms of minutes per goal involvement, creating or scoring a goal every 100.9 minutes.

Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son were on target in Tottenham's 3-0 win
Image: Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son were on target in Tottenham's win over Bournemouth

Tottenham have averaged the most goals per game in the Premier League this season (2.12), so it's no surprise to see Son's teammate Harry Kane, who has been involved in 25 goals, second in the list on 80.1 minutes.

Top of the pile is Arsenal man Olivier Giroud, who has been involved in 12 goals for Arsenal this season from just 931 minutes of action, which averages out at a goal every 76.1 minutes.

The Premier League's top goalscorer Romelu Lukaku, who has 24 goals to his name, is fifth on the list having been involved in 30 goals this season from a total of 2817 minutes of game time.

Goal contributions per minute in the PL this season?

Player Goals Assists Minutes Played Mins per goal
Olivier Giroud 9 3 913 76.1
Harry Kane 20 5 2002 80.1
Cesc Fabregas 4 7 961 87.4
Alexis Sanchez 19 9 2628 93.9
Romelu Lukaku 24 6 2817 93.9
Heung-Min Son 12 4 1614 100.9
Islam Slimani 7 3 1100 110.0
Zlatan Ibrahimovic 17 5 2437 110.8
Dele Alli 16 5 2522 120.1

A winning machine

Is it correct that Jose Mourinho has now won at least once against 34 teams in the Premier League? Which manager has beaten the most teams? (Andy, Stevenage)

MARTIN SAYS: Yes, Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Super Sunday means Mourinho has now beaten every Premier League team he's managed against - all 34 of them.

Although Mourinho holds a 100% strike rate in that regard, he does have some way to go in order to match some of his managerial rivals as he only sits 10th in the list of most Premier League teams beaten by a manager.

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Manchester Utd 2-0 Chelsea

Unsurprisingly, the list is dominated Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger on 44 teams beaten. Harry Redknapp took the reins at Birmingham City this week and his experience for the battle ahead is shown as he sits third in the standings having seen off 41 different Premier League clubs during his time in management.

Mourinho will have a chance to close the gap on Ferguson and Wenger next season at United when Brighton and potentially one of Huddersfield, Leeds United or Sheffield Wednesday join the Premier League ranks from the Sky Bet Championship.

Interestingly, other permanent managers with a 100% record are Gordon Strachan (32/32) and Ronald Koeman (24/24).

Which manager has beaten the most PL teams?

Manager Teams Faced Teams Beaten Teams not beaten
Sir Alex Ferguson 44 44 -
Arsene Wenger 44 44 -
Harry Redknapp 43 41 Blackpool (P2), Ipswich (P4)
Martin O'Neill 40 39 Wolves (P3)
Sam Allardyce 39 38 Derby (P4)
David Moyes 38 37 Everton (P4)
Mark Hughes 37 36 Cardiff (P2)
Kevin Keegan 36 35 Wolves (P2)
Kenny Dalglish 39 35 Blackpool (P1), Charlton (P1), Swansea (P2), Wigan (P3)
Jose Mourinho 34 34 -
Graeme Souness 36 34 Wigan (P1), Wimbledon (P5)

Better Leight than never

Leighton Baines grabbed another assist for Everton at the weekend - how many has he got in the Premier League and is it the most ever by a defender? (Chris, Southampton)

MARTIN SAYS: Yes, Leighton Baines has the most assists by a defender in Premier League history as he notched up his 50th in Everton's victory over Burnley at the weekend. The full-back achieved the feat after he set up Lukaku to score, meaning he now has six more assists than any other Premier League player.

Graeme Le Saux is second in that list and two of our Sky Sports team also feature. Andy Hinchcliffe has 36 assists to his name and Gary Neville registered a healthy number of 35 assists during his time with United.

That makes him the right-back with the most assists in Premier League history - unless you include Manchester United's current right-back Antonio Valencia with 38. However, we have disqualified him from the list because of the number of assists he provided as a right winger with Wigan.

Most PL assists by defenders

Player Assists
Leighton Baines 50
Graham Le Saux 44
Andy Hinchcliffe 36
Ian Harte 36
Gary Neville 35
Dan Petrescu 33
Ashley Cole 31
Gary Kelly 31
John Arne Riise 30
Steve Staunton 28

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