Eberechi Eze made history in the north London derby on Sunday. Not only was his hat-trick the first in the derby in the Premier League era by either an Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur player, but it was also the 400th instance of a Premier League hat-trick by any player.
What better way to mark that milestone than recounting the best of those 400?
First, some house rules; we’ve left out those where players who went on to score four or five goals, so Andrew Cole (Manchester United v Ipswich Town, 1995), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City at Wolverhampton Wanderers, 2022) and Luis Suarez (Liverpool v Norwich City, 2013), we apologise. Why don’t they count here? It just doesn’t feel right calling them hat-tricks, does it? It’s a quad-trick or a cinq-trick (that actually sounds quite nice), not a hat-trick.
Secondly, this is not a list of the best hat-tricks purely in terms of how good the goals were (although clearly that’s subjective anyway); more, we’ve looked at importance, uniqueness, impact and technical brilliance.
And finally, Eze doesn’t make the list. He may in time, but the dust needs to settle before it can find its rightful place in the vault of Premier League hat-tricks history. Head straight to the comments without reading the article if you disagree.
10. Eric Cantona
Leeds United 5-0 Spurs, August 25, 1992
The first Premier League hat-trick may also have been one of its most consequential. Cantona, who had already scored a treble that month in Leeds’ 4-3 win over Liverpool in the Charity Shield (the first in the season curtain-raiser since 1957), was cementing his status as one of English football’s most mercurial talents, meaning that when things went sour at Elland Road a few months later, Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United had no hesitation swooping to buy him for the measly sum of £1million (then $1.85m). Four league titles later, the rest was history.
This hat-trick showcased the Frenchman’s exceptional skill, with one stunningly controlled half-volley and then a rasping volley for his third goal, but also the physical attributes that helped make him such a success in England, arching his neck to score with a textbook header from David Batty’s cross.
Cantona celebrated his goals with childlike glee, wheeling away in delight. He was not yet the nonchalant philosopher, but then Leeds’ shirts didn’t have a collar he could turn up. He was not yet Eric.
9. Chris Bart-Williams
Sheffield Wednesday 5-2 Southampton, April 12, 1993
Most Premier League hat-tricks are scored by recognisable strikers. In fact, almost eight per cent of all 400 hat-tricks have come from either Sergio Aguero, Alan Shearer or Erling Haaland.
There are some obscure names on the list of Premier League hat-trick goalscorers, though. Unexpected heroes for the day. Aruna Dindane (Portsmouth 4-0 Wigan Athletic, 2009), anyone? See also; Elijah Adebayo (Luton Town 4-0 Brighton & Hove Albion, 2024), a 20-year-old (and hungover) Jermaine Pennant (Arsenal 6-1 Southampton, 2003), Fredi Bobic (Bolton Wanderers 4-1 Ipswich Town, 2002) and Steve Watson (Everton 4-0 Leeds, 2003).
No defender, incidentally, has ever scored a Premier League hat-trick, with the last in the top flight being Gary Gillespie’s for Liverpool against Birmingham City in 1986.
Midfielder Chris Bart-Williams scored only 52 league goals in his career but three came on one glorious Hillsborough afternoon against Southampton in 1993, sealed by a nice little half-volley and a delirious little jig to celebrate. Lovely stuff.
8. Duncan Ferguson
Everton 3-2 Bolton Wanderers, December 28, 1997
Some hat-tricks are defined by grace and beauty, but Duncan Ferguson didn’t really do nice.
This is one of only two Premier League hat-tricks to feature three headers (the other being from Salomon Rondon for West Bromwich Albion against Swansea City in 2016) and is a lesson in brutality and desire.
None of these are free headers; the first, from a Tony Thomas cross, sees Ferguson barge his way in front of a defender, elbows akimbo, before directing a powerful header past the keeper, while the second was a diving header from Nick Barmby’s centre and, as Gerald Sinstadt says on Match of the Day, Ferguson puts his head where the boots were. A rampant hankering for goalscoring.
The third (from another Thomas cross, in one of only eight league appearances he made for the club) sees Ferguson leap above not one, or two, but three players before planting a downward bouncer up and over the keeper.
His brilliance was absolutely crucial too; Everton would stay up above Bolton on goal difference.
Duncan Ferguson scores a trademark header against Bolton (Michael Steele – PA Images via Getty Images)
7. Erling Haaland
Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United, October 2, 2022
This was Haaland’s third Premier League hat-trick… in his eighth Premier League appearance. The Norwegian goal god rewrote the hat-trick rule book in his opening weeks in English football, also becoming the first player to score hat-tricks in three successive home matches.
For context, it took Aguero, who has scored more Premier League hat-tricks than anyone (12), almost four years to register his third City hat-trick in the league.
Haaland, three-and-a-bit years into his City career, is on eight so far, with this one in a hammering of United (Phil Foden also scored a hat-trick that day) still the most memorable and a perfect showcase of his ridiculous finishing prowess, with a header, a finish on the slide at full-stretch and a reflex half-volley.
6. Fabrizio Ravanelli
Middlesbrough 3-3 Liverpool, August 17, 1996
Debut hat-tricks are pretty rare. The aforementioned one by Pennant came on his full league debut, while Stan Collymore scored one on his home debut for Leicester City in a 5-2 win against Sunderland in 2000.
Ravanelli holds the distinction of not only scoring one on his Middlesbrough debut, but also on his Premier League debut, the only player to do so. He was also the first Italian to score a Premier League hat-trick. And it was on the opening weekend of the season.
A penalty and a couple of wily penalty-box finishes mean this is not the most aesthetically pleasing hat-trick by any means, but for instant impact you can’t top The White Feather, whose signing from Juventus was huge news at the time.
5. Robin van Persie
Manchester United 3-0 Aston Villa, April 22, 2013
A hat-trick to seal a Premier League title is very special indeed. Yes, two of the goals could have been scored by Van Persie’s grandmother, coming as they did from one and six yards out respectively, but the second of his strikes that night was one of the greatest Premier League goals of all time; an over-the-shoulder 20-yard volley from Wayne Rooney’s perfect 50-yard pass.
Absolutely sublime. It remains United’s most recent league triumph.
Robin van Persie scores one of the Premier League’s great goals (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
4. Dennis Bergkamp
Leicester City 3-3 Arsenal, August 27, 1997
The OG PL hat-trick. A 20-yard curler from a short corner that Kasey Keller watched fly into the top corner, a dink over the keeper after Patrick Vieira’s pass and then, in the 90th minute, a goal that defied convention. Bergkamp took David Platt’s long pass, controlled on the volley, turned inside with his left foot with the ball yet to touch the ground, sending dazzled defender Matt Elliott to Derby in the process, before coolly finishing.
It was the definition of sublime in a crazy game; Arsenal were 2-0 up with six minutes left, then after Bergkamp’s third, Leicester equalised again through Steve Walsh.
3. Sadio Mane
Southampton 6-1 Aston Villa, May 16, 2015
It took just two minutes and 56 seconds for Sadio Mane to score goals in the 13th, 14th and 16th minutes of this end-of-season game against hapless Villa (who finished 17th, while Southampton qualified for Europe in seventh).
For context, in that time you could listen to Let It Be by The Beatles and still have one minute and seven seconds spare to consider whether the guitar solo goes on a bit too long.
Mane broke Robbie Fowler’s record of four minutes and 33 seconds for his hat-trick for Liverpool against Arsenal in 1994, and it is hard to see it ever being beaten. Remarkable.
2. Dimitar Berbatov
Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool, September 19, 2010
Berbatov’s finest hour. A legendary hat-trick in the biggest game in English football, which was also the first hat-trick in this fixture for 64 years.
The piece de resistance, either side of two headers (with the winner coming in the 84th minute after Liverpool had come from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 via two Steven Gerrard goals) was a devastatingly beautiful overhead kick, controlling Nani’s cross on his knee to tee himself up for a 15-yarder which kissed the crossbar on its way in. Jamie Carragher and Pepe Reina could only watch, motionless, for one of the best goals in a hat-trick ever scored in the Premier League (with props to Tony Yeboah against Wimbledon in 1995).
1. Nwankwo Kanu
Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal, October 23, 1999
It would have to be a pretty amazing hat-trick to beat Berbatov and, just about, Kanu nicks top spot in our list.
Why? Because this treble started with Chelsea 2-0 up in the 75th minute and ended with a stoppage-time winner that changed the laws of physics.
Yes, that is the byline and, yes, Nwanko Kanu did score from there (Graham Chadwick/Allsport)
Quickfire hat-tricks to win matches had been done before; Alan Shearer’s 13-minute treble to drag Newcastle United from 3-1 down to a last-gasp victory against Leicester in 1997 was special, but Kanu gets the nod for the sheer languid drama of his unique hat-trick.
The first was an instinctive toe-poke finish ahead of two Chelsea defenders, the second a blasted low shot after reacting first to Marc Overmars’ cross. Then the third, involving a moment of madness from goalkeeper Ed de Goey, who had not conceded a goal at home all season. The Dutchman’s mind was scrambled by the dispassionate genius of Kanu, racing to meet the forward near-ish the corner flag. Kanu rounded him and beat two defenders on the line from the narrowest of angles.
Drama and beauty epitomised. The greatest Premier League hat-trick.