The Premier League saw its first hat-trick in the year of its beginning. Eric Cantona found the net three times in a whopping victory over Tottenham Hotspurs by five goals. It was the time when he knocked on the doors at Old Trafford. By nationality, Englishmen are far away from any opponent. They have scored a hat-trick 161 times, followed by 18 each for Argentina and The Netherlands.
12 Hat-tricks – Sergio Aguero
Former Manchester City ace Sergio Aguero stood first as he scored 12 hat-tricks during his decade-long career in Blue Jersey. His all 12 hat tricks do not include a single penalty, which makes him an elite shooter. He joined Man City in 2011 and he took only a few games to announce his name at the Premier League level. Moreover, Sergio is also the club’s highest goal scorer of all time. His last hat-trick was against Villa in January 2020 when he surpassed Thierry Henry as the highest non-English goal scorer of all time. Premiership fans remember him most because of his 94th min goal against QPR in the last match of the season which gave Man City the first-ever Premier League Trophy. Sergio Aguero is one of five players who have scored 5 games in a match.
11 Hat-tricks – Alan Shearer
He is considered to be one of the most prolific strikers of all time. The Englishman is the record goal scorer in the history of the Premier League, with 283 goals. In the tally of 283 goals, it includes 11 hat-tricks. He owned the record for most hat-tricks till 2020, when Argentinian went past him. Shearer has scored 9 hat-tricks for Blackburn Rovers, whereas two of his hat-tricks came for Newcastle United. He was a nightmare for defenders with his pace, mobility, and precise shooting ability.
9 Hat-tricks – Robbie Fowler
“GOD” is what Liverpool fans used to call him back in the red days. Robbie Fowler is the 8th highest goal scorer of all time in Premier League history. He scored his first hat-trick in his 5th game. Besides Liverpool, Fowler played for Leeds United, Manchester City, and Blackburn Rovers during his career and managed to score 379 goals. Once he took only 4 minutes and 33 seconds to score a hat-trick against Arsenal in 1995.
8 Hat-tricks – Harry Kane, Thierry Henry, and Michael Owen
3 players have scored hat-tricks 8 times and their names are no surprise to Premier League fans. Harry Kane is still doing with the Spurs and hopefully there will be two players left with 8 hat-tricks when gets his next. His ability to link play sets him different than conventional strikers of the game. The 6.2 ft English is also a Tottenham’s second-highest all-time top goal scorer and the third-highest Premier League all-time top goal scorer. Kane has also won the golden boot twice in his career.
Henry netted 8 hat-tricks in his 258 appearances for Arsenal. Unsurprisingly, Henry was known as disastrous in front of goal. In 2000, he scored his first hat-trick against hat-trick. Henry is also Arsenal’s four times golden boot winner.
Michael Owen represented four different clubs (Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Stoke City) in his 326 games. Owen was the youngest to score 3 hat-tricks when he was just 18 years old. Only Robbie Fowler and Chris Bart Williams scored when they were 18 years old. It tells how technically sound Michael Owen was.
7 Hat-tricks – Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney played for Everton and Manchester United with most part of his illustrious career at the latter club. His 253 goals involve 7 hat-tricks as a Premier League player. During 2006-07 season, Rooney was suffering 10 match goal drought until he scored hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers. It is worth mentioning that Rooney’s 100th goal for the Red Devils was 2nd goal of his hat-trick against the Hammers. Ironically, his 150th goal also came during a hat-trick in a famous 8-2 win over Arsenal. In the later part of his career, he scored his first hat-trick for Everton against West Ham in 2017-18.
Clubs with the Most number of Hat-tricks
Liverpool and Arsenal enjoy a unique record of 39 hat-tricks jointly. And why not these two clubs will score hat-tricks when they have the likes of Robbie Fowler and Thierry Henry? Manchester United is also not very far away in the standings. The Red Devils have scored 32 hat-tricks with Wayne Rooney being at the top of the club’s list.
The North London Club has 24 hat-tricks. Chelsea is one of the successful clubs. Its Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has 4 hat-tricks whereas the club’s highest goal scorer Lampard and Didier Drogba claims 3 hat-tricks. Apart from these clubs, here is a short list of other clubs with their tallies:
Tottenham Hotspurs – 23
Manchester City – 22
Blackburn Rovers – 17
Everton – 15
Newcastle United 13 Aston Villa and Leeds United – 10
Interesting Facts about Hat-trick
35 players have scored a perfect hat-trick. A trick involves a goal with a left foot, a right foot, and a header. Whereas, Robbie Fowler has scored three (all for Liverpool) and Yakubu has scored two perfect hat-tricks (each for Blackburn Rovers and Everton).
Erling Haaland has scored 3 hat tricks in just 8 games for Manchester City. The Norwegian has stunned the world with his striking abilities in Premier League.
Sadio Mane holds the record for the quickest hat trick (2m56secs) in Premier League. He scored against Southampton in 2015.
There are four players in Premier League history who lost the match even after scoring a hat-trick. Their names are Matt Le Tissier (two times), Dion Dublin, Roque Santa Cruz, and Dwight Yorke.
Only two players from either side have scored a hat-trick in a match. It happened in a match between Wigan and Blackburn when Marcus Bent and Roque Santa Cruz respectively in 2007.
Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the longest gap between two hat tricks i.e. over 14 years. In 2008, he scored a treble against Newcastle United, and after the reunion at United, he scored against Spurs in 2022.
