"I have got a bit of searching for you to do here," says Ammar Ali, cackling inwardly. "I would like to know which minute of Premier League matches has seen most goals. That is, how many goals have been scored in the first, second, third minute of games, etc. I presume the 60th minute has witnessed most goals."
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Well, the trouble when you presume, Ammar, is that you make a pres out of you and me. Ah. Erm. Anyway, thanks to our friends at Opta, we can tell you that in fact the 60th minute is only the 19th most prolific in the Premier League era, having witnessed 261 goals (that's an average of 12 per season, by our reckoning). The stats are skewed somewhat by the fact that the 90th and 45th minutes include all added time, but it is then that most goals are scored – a considerable 1,069, or about 51 per season, coming in the 90th minute or later. There have been 602 goals (almost 29 per season) in the 45th minute or first-half stoppage time.
Late goals are a clear trend in the Premier League: of the final 10 minutes of a game, only the 84th and the 86th sit outside the Top 15 Most Prolific Minutes, pop pickers. A total of 329 goals have been scored in the 89th minute, 290 in the 80th, 284 in the 85th, 275 in the 87th, 273 in the 88th, 269 in the 81st, 268 in the 83rd, and 264 in the 82nd. That means that of the 21,871 goals recorded in the spreadsheet Opta have kindly furnished us with, 3,321 – or 15% – have been scored after the 79th minute. By contrast 1,831 (8%) have been scored in the opening 10 minutes of matches, with the opening minute featuring only 103 goals.
This handy table shows a general swell of goals as games progress, with the final 50 minutes much more goal-rich than the first 40. We've even checked these figures against a hypothetical world in which each 10-minute segment has an equal number of goals, and the difference is statistically significant! (p=0.0001, for those wondering.) So now you can tell your friends that the Premier League's penchant for late goals is An Actual Thing.
It's not just a Manchester United thing, before you say it. Arsenal and Chelsea have both outscored United in the 89th, 90th and additional minutes, bagging 107 and 106 goals respectively. United are third with 101. Of the seven clubs to have been in the Premier League since its inception, Aston Villa have the fewest late goals, with 43 scored in the 89th minute or later. One final curiosity for you: Arsenal (eight), Chelsea (eight) and Manchester United (seven) also have the most first-minute goals. That means that just over 21% of the goals scored in the first minute of Premier League matches have been scored by three clubs.
HAT-TRICK HERO FULL-BACKS
"A few years ago I travelled from Australia and went to see Leyton Orient v Gillingham," says Paul Golland. "Orient were 0-3 down when Matt Lockwood, the left back, scored a hat-trick to earn a 3-3 draw for the Os. Has this ever been done before by a full-back?"
There are full-backs who have scored hat-tricks while playing out of position – Steves Watson and Nicol, for instance, the former scoring three from the right wing against Leeds in 2003 and the latter scoring three from the left wing against Newcastle in 1987. Nicol's last goal was a peach, incidentally, chipped over the keeper to make it 4-1. There's also the Crystal Palace right-back Danny Butterfield, who had to play up front against Wolves in an FA Cup fourth round replay in February 2010 and ended up scoring the perfect hat-trick in seven minutes. (The story goes that Nathanial Clyne, who did play at right-back that day, might have moved to Wolves earlier in the week; had that happened, we might never have been able to enjoy Paul Merson's reaction on Sky Sports News – "They need the money, great result!")
We have found a few hat-trick scoring full-backs though, starting with Dean Gordon, the left-back who scored all three for Crystal Palace in a 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion in December 1995. The first two were penalties (the second he'd won himself, having been upended mid-run), with the third a looping header at a corner. This may very well be the first and only article in which Gordon's efforts precede Sinisa Mihajlovic's memorable hat-trick of free-kicks in Lazio's 5-2 win over Sampdoria in 1998.
More recently, the Newcastle Jets left-back Craig Goodwin hammered three past Northern NSW in a 6-0 drubbing last July. "He didn't have a great deal of space, he just bombed them," said a slightly shell-shocked Northern coach, Damien Smith. "The crowd will love him if he can do that." And Goodwin can – he scored a brace in the Jets' recent pre-season game versus Central Coast Mariners.
For the completists, we should also mention Chris Herd's hat-trick in Aston Villa Reserves' 10-1 win over Arsenal Reserves back in 2010-11. Arsenal were a shower from start to finish, giving Herd the space to thwack a Nathan Baker nod-down into the roof of the net, and score two headers from corners.
PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS/FOOTBALLERS
"There is a long and embarrassing history of footballers releasing novelty singles (and more), but do any show a deeper commitment to music?" asked James Hampson last week. "Has there ever been a footballer with a music qualification, for example?"
David Rae has an answer, of sorts. We'll let him take it from here. "I'm sure I'll not be the only person to respond to this one with the name James Allan. I'm not sure about the music qualification but James is currently the frontman for an extremely successful, popular beat-combo called Glasvegas but in a previous life he was a professional footballer, playing for such titans of the Scottish game as Cowdenbeath, East Fife, Queens Park, Stirling Albion, Gretna (RIP) and Dumbarton.
"He was recently on BBC Radio Scotland's irreverent footballing show Off The Ball and stated that he is probably the only person to have scored a goal at Hampden Park when playing for Queens Park in a professional league and to have performed on stage at Hampden when Glasvegas supported U2."
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
Manchester miserabilist Morrisey is currently topping the charts with his imaginatively-named autobiography, erm, Autobiography. For someone who doesn't come across like he'd ever be that pally with anyone, never a mind a footballer, he recently met QPR's Joey Barton at Glastonbury, although we're guessing that could have been a Barton ambush. But, anyway, in December 2005 Harry Bevill asked this question: "Is it true that Morrissey is mates with QPR striker Kevin Gallen?"
"Incredibly, Harry, the Mancunian miserablist is an acquaintance of the Rangers forward. According to a recent article in the League Paper, Morrissey met Gallen in Los Angeles in June - he was recording new album Ringleader Of The Tormentors, while the striker was in the city on holiday. Subsequently the pair became "email friends"; Gallen even sent Morrissey a personalised kit with 'Mozalini 10' on the back, which can be seen here. "I've invited him to see a game when he's next back in England," said Gallen, himself the owner of Rangers' No10 shirt."
Can you think of any other random footballer-musician friendships? Email knowledge@theguardian.com.
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
CAN YOU HELP?
"Peru's Garcilaso v César Vallejo fixture brings together not one but two top-flight teams named after literary figures (16th-century chronicler and 20th-century poet respectively). Are writers similarly immortalised anywhere else?" asks Gerry Prewett.
"Have any former professional footballers gone on to become professional football referees?" wonders Ken Coogan.
"The Nigerian Premier League ended last weekend and one of the teams, Enyimba, did not concede a goal at home throughout the season. Are there any other times that this has occurred?" asks optimism's Michael Alajiki.
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com
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