Since the inception of the English football league competition, the Premier League, [a] in 1992, exactly 200 players have scored three goals (a hat-trick) or more in a single match. The first player to achieve the feat was Frenchman Eric Cantona, who scored three times for Leeds United in a 5–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. 31 have scored more than three goals in a match; of these, five players, Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe, Dimitar Berbatov and Sergio Agüero have scored five. Sadio Mané holds the record for the quickest Premier League hat-trick, netting three times for Southampton against Aston Villa in 2 minutes 56 seconds, [1] breaking Robbie Fowler's record. [2] Six hat-tricks have been achieved in under 10 minutes; in addition to Mané and Fowler's, Defoe, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ian Wright, and Andy Carroll have scored the quickest hat-tricks. [3] In 1999, Manchester United player Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored four goals in twelve minutes as a substitute against Nottingham Forest, "the fastest scorer of a four-goal haul on record in England". [4]
Contents
- Hat-tricks
- Multiple hat-tricks
- Hat-tricks by nationality
- Hat-tricks by club
- Gallery
- Notes
- References
- External links
The fixture between Arsenal and Southampton at Highbury in 2003 saw both Jermaine Pennant and Robert Pires score a hat-trick for the home team. In 2007, Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz and Wigan's Marcus Bent both scored hat-tricks in a match that Wigan won 5–3. In 2019, both Ayoze Pérez and Jamie Vardy scored hat-tricks as Leicester City defeated Southampton 9–0. In 2022, Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored hat-tricks in a 6–3 victory over Manchester United in the Manchester derby. Only six players – Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane (twice) – have scored hat-tricks in two consecutive league games, while Thierry Henry achieved it in consecutive appearances a month apart. [5]
Rooney's hat-trick on 10 September 2011 and Matt Le Tissier's hat-trick on 19 August 1995 were scored through set pieces, which consists of penalty kicks and direct free kicks. [6] Everton's Duncan Ferguson and Salomón Rondón of West Bromwich Albion are the only Premier League players to have scored a hat-trick of headers. [7] 36 different players have scored a "perfect" hat-trick in the Premier League since its inception, but only two players have achieved this feat more than once: Robbie Fowler has scored three (all for Liverpool) and Yakubu has scored two (one each for Blackburn Rovers and Everton). [8]
Most number of hat-tricks scored on the same day is three, which happened twice in the history of Premier League: on 23 September 1995 Fowler, Shearer and Tony Yeboah registered hat-tricks, and on 2 September 2023 Evan Ferguson, Erling Haaland and Son Heung-min scored three goals each. [9]
Most number of hat-tricks scored in one season is 19, which happened twice: in 1993–94 (with 462 games played) and 2011–12 season (380 games played). On the other end, 2006–07 season saw only 3 hat-tricks scored. [10] Alan Shearer has scored the most hat-tricks in a single season, with five during the 1995–96 season. [11]
Sergio Agüero has scored three or more goals twelve times in the Premier League, more than any other player. Alan Shearer is second with eleven hat-tricks; Robbie Fowler has scored nine, and Henry, Kane and Michael Owen have each scored eight hat-tricks. Five players have each scored hat-tricks for three different clubs: Yakubu (Blackburn, Everton and Portsmouth); Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City); Kevin Campbell (Arsenal, Everton and Forest); Les Ferdinand (Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham) and Teddy Sheringham (Manchester United, Portsmouth and Tottenham). [5] Four players have scored hat-tricks and still ended up on the losing side: Matt Le Tissier (twice), Dion Dublin, Roque Santa Cruz and Dwight Yorke. [12]
The youngest player to score a Premier League hat-trick was Michael Owen for Liverpool, when he scored his first league hat-trick against Sheffield Wednesday on 14 February 1998 at the age of 18 years and 62 days. [13] [14] The oldest scorer of a Premier League hat-trick is Teddy Sheringham with an age of 37 years and 146 days playing for Portsmouth against Bolton Wanderers on 26 August 2003. [11]
The Dubious Goals Committee has sometimes decided after a match that players have not scored hat-tricks because one of the goals was incorrectly credited to them. Southampton player Egil Østenstad was thought to have scored a hat-trick against Manchester United in 1996, but the committee ruled that one of the goals be credited as an own goal to United's Phil Neville. [15] [16] Anelka's first goal for Manchester City in September 2002 was later credited as an own goal to Everton's Tomasz Radzinski. [17] Javier Hernández was denied a hat-trick against Aston Villa in November 2012 after the committee ruled his second goal was actually an own goal by Ron Vlaar. [18]
