25 crazy Premier League facts

[THE FUGITIVE]

1. Two players have scored Premier League penalties with both feet: Bobby Zamora and Obafemi Martins.

Obafemi Martins (Pic:Getty)
Obafemi Martins: along with Zamora, the only player to REALLY prove his two-footedness
2. Ryan Giggs has been substituted more times than any other player (134).

Aston Villa v Manchester United - Premier League
OK, it's probably because he played for so long. But still…
READ MORE: We picked the best Premier League XIs of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s

3. Mario Balotelli’s only assist in the Premier League was for Sergio Aguero’s title-winning goal vs QPR.

Sergio Aguero of Manchester City scores his team's third and match winning goal
Forget the title-winning stuff: the truly remarkable fact about this goal was Mad Mario setting it up (Image: Getty)
4. Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Kevin Davies are the only players to score, assist and score an own goal in a single Premier League game.

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney (C) scores an own goal and the first goal for Stoke
Rooney scores an OG against Stoke in 2012 (Image: Action)
5. Bale is the one of the three above to also get a yellow card in the same game.

Tottenham Hotspur's Gareth Bale is booked for diving by the referee
"But your card clashes with my boots!" (Image: Reuters)
6. Man United have never lost a Premier League game at Old Trafford in which they have been ahead at half-time.

Sir Alex Ferguson
A fact which exists largely thanks to one man (Image: Getty)
7. Alan Shearer has missed the most Premier League penalties (11). In fairness, he's also scored the most (56).

Alan Shearer Scores Goal 1994/95 Premier League seasonBLACKBUR
TWO arms in the air? Blimey, he must have been happy (Image: Getty Images)
8. 2015/16 was the first time West Ham had recorded a positive goal difference in a top-flight season since 1985/86.


2015/16 was a good time to blow some bubbles (Image: Arfa Griffiths)
9. Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has scored, assisted and won a penalty in the Premier League. He also has more Premier League assists than any other keeper (five).

Burnley & Blackburn
Maybe Paul Robinson should just have played up front? (Image: Getty)
10. James Milner has scored in 47 different Premier League games - and hasn't lost any of them (a record).

James Milner celebrates scoring
The Premier League's ultimate lucky charm (Image: PA Wire)
11. Only three players born after the Premier League began (August 1992) have scored Premier League hat-tricks: Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku.


Harry Kane with one of his many match balls (Image: Jordan Mansfield)

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MARTIN KEOWN WITH HIGH PRAISE FOR HARRY KANE
12. The only person born before 1960 to score a Premier League hat-trick is Gordan Strachan.

Gordon Strachan and Gary Speed
The current Scotland boss being little back in his title-winning days at Leeds (Image: Getty)
13. David (x14) & James (x11) were the most common first names in the Premier League in 2010/11 - yet it was the first season in which David James did not appear.


Make sense? (Image: Phil Cole)
14. Newcastle United won 34 points from losing positions in 2001/02; the most by a team in a single Premier League season. It was also the same number of points that they won in total when relegated seven years later.

Alan Shearer: Newcastle United v Everton, 2002â€"03
Newcastle in 2002: a LOT better than Newcastle in 2016 (Image: Getty)
15. In 2014/15, George Boyd became the fourth player to play for two relegated teams in the same Premier League campaign (others were Mark Robins in 94/95, Steve Kabba in 06/07 and David Nugent in 09/10).


George Boyd playing for Burnley against Hull - who he also played for in a particularly rough season (Image: Gareth Copley)
16. In 2014/15, Leicester City spent longer at the bottom of the table without being relegated than any side in Premier League history (140 days).


"And then Claudio come!" (Image: Plumb Images)
17. Cesar Azpilicueta (2016/17), Wes Morgan (2015/16), John Terry (2014/15) and Gary Pallister (1992/93) are the only outfield players to play every minute of the season for a Premier League title-winning side.

John Terry celebrates with the Premier league trophy after Chelsea won the title with an 8-0 victory over Wigan at Stamford Bridge on May 9, 2010
How times change… (Image: AFP/Getty)
18. Peter Crouch has scored more headed goals (50) than 16 of the teams who have played in the Premier League.


Crouchie being Crouchie (Image: Tony Marshall)
19. Nuri Sahin (formerly at Liverpool) has played the most Premier League games of any player to be substituted off in all of their PL appearances (7).

Nuri Sahin
Nuri Sahin: another belting Brendan Rodgers buy (Image: Getty)
20. Richard Wright has played a combined 12 Premier League games for Arsenal (12) and Man City (0)… and has two title medals.


Richard Wright: two-time Premier League champion (Image: Alex Livesey)
21. Iago Aspas took more corners (often badly) than he had shots in the Premier League.

Iago Aspas
Iago Aspas: king of corner-taking (Image: Getty)
22. In 1997/98, Andy Roberts played 37 games in the Premier League and four of them came against Arsenal (two for Palace, two for Wimbledon).

Jordi Cruyff of Manchester United is challenged by Andy Roberts of Wimbledon
Remember Andy Roberts? No, us neither (Image: Getty)
23. Terry Connor (former Wolves boss) is the only manager to take charge of more than 10 Premier League games and not win a single one.

Terry Connor of Wolves looks on during the Barclays Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City at Molineux on April 22, 2012
Poor Terry…
24. In 2016/17, Hull became only the third team to be top of the Premier League and be relegated in the same season (after Charlton in 1998/99 and Bolton in 2011/12).


No really… Hull actually WERE (very briefly) top of the Premier League in August (Image: Getty)
25. Only two players have ever scored a hat-trick of headers in a Premier League match: Duncan Ferguson for Everton (vs Bolton in December 1997) and Salomon Rondon for West Brom (vs Swansea in December 2016).