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On Thursday Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson insisted that his side were not a one-man team and wholly reliant on hot shot Robin van Persie.

And now he has the stats to back it up as Sportsmail and Opta can reveal that United have a larger number of different goalscorers than any other club in the Barclays Premier League.

United lead the pack with 16 different scorers, ahead of Chelsea and Manchester City who have 14 and 13, respectively.

One man team? Sir Alex Ferguson insists that Manchester United are not wholly reliant on free-scoring striker Robin Van Persie (pictured)

Playing their part: Wayne Rooney (left) has seven Premier League goals and Javier Hernandez (right), eight

UNITED'S PL GOALSCORERS

Robin van Persie - 17

Javier Hernandez - 8

Wayne Rooney - 7

Patrice Evra - 4

Jonny Evans - 3

Tom Cleverley - 2

Shinji Kagawa - 2

Rafael - 2

Anderson - 1

Alexander Buttner - 1

Darren Fletcher - 1

Nani -1

Nick Powell - 1

Paul Scholes - 1

Nemanja Vidic - 1

Danny Welbeck - 1

Liverpool, Spurs and West Ham are adept at spreading the goals around with 12 each, Norwich have 11, and Reading and Southampton have ten each.

Arsenal, Everton, Suderland,West Brom and Wigan will need to show improvement as they have just nine but five clubs, Aston Villa, Newcastle, QPR, Stoke and Swansea, are at the foot of the table with only eight different goalscorers.

The importance of Michu to the Swans, who has 13 of his team's 31 goals is underlined, while Harry Redknapp will be hoping £8million Loic Remy will bring QPR the goalscoring they have so desperately needed. 

The eight players who have scored for Redknapp's side only have 17 goals between them, Adel Taarabt leads the charts with just four.

Though the 29-year-old Dutchman has 21 goals this season, Ferguson is not worried that losing Van Persie would mean United are a shadow of themselves.

'I don’t go along with the idea we have become a one-man team,' he told United Review.

'There was a time in our history when one man did carry us for a while. 

'Eric Cantona kept us in contention with his goals when a few others were off the boil.

'But things are quite different now. Javier Hernandez has weighed in with 12 goals while Wayne Rooney is currently on nine.

'Two defenders, Johnny Evans and Patrice Evra, have chipped in with eight between them, while opposition players have gifted three own goals to the league leaders.

'So it doesn’t stand up to see us as a one-man band overly dependent on Van Persie, brilliant as he has been at both making and taking goals.'

Spreading the goals: Ferguson's (pictured) team have 16 different goalscorers in the league this season, more than any other team

Important goals: Patrice Evra (right) has chipped in with four goals from left-back this season

Ferguson, however, does agree with his rival Manchester manager, Roberto Mancini, who said that Van Persie is making the difference this season.

'He is absolutely relishing his new challenge,' he said. 'He is the right player, at the right club, at the right time.

'He has a winning mentality, but as he points out, it is one that goes right through the squad and one that will hopefully see us push on in both league and the cups and successfully navigate what is a busy and challenging period.'

United face Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Thriller: Spurs' Clint Dempsey (pictured) scores the winning goal during the 3-2 thriller at Old Trafford earlier this season