The Premier League, over the years, has been enriched by some of the most lethal goalscorers to have played the game of football.

On their day, these goalscorers made a mockery of the opposition defence by netting three or more goals to take home the match ball, which is awarded to the hat-trick scorer of the match.

However, out of the 200-plus hat-tricks that have been scored in the Premier League since its inception in 1992, only 39 of them were ‘perfect hat-trick’.

What is a perfect hat-trick?

A perfect hat-trick is a term used for three goals scored by a player in a single match, out of which one is a right-footed goal, one is a left-footed strike and the third is a header. 

The order in which the three goals are scored is inconsequential and can be between goals scored by other players on the field.

Only three players have managed to achieve the feat more than once in Premier League history. Here, we shall have a look at the players who have scored the perfect hat-tricks in EPL.

Perfect hat-tricks in Premier League

Player Team Opponent Year
Mark Robins Norwich City Oldham Athletic 1992
Efan Ekoku Norwich City Everton 1993
Robbie Fowler Liverpool Southampton 1993
Matthew Le Tissier Southampton Norwich City 1994
Chris Sutton Blackburn Rovers Coventry City 1994
Tommy Johnson Aston Villa Wimbledon 1995
Andy Cole Manchester United Ipswich Town 1995
Robbie Fowler Liverpool Arsenal 1995
Gianluca Vialli Chelsea Barnsley 1997
Robbie Fowler Liverpool Southampton 1999
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Manchester United Everton 1999
Emile Heskey Liverpool Derby County 2000
Les Ferdinand Tottenham Hotspur Leicester City 2000
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Chelsea Tottenham Hotspur 2002
Thierry Henry Arsenal West Ham United 2003
Peter Crouch Liverpool Arsenal 2007
Yakubu Ayegbeni Everton Fulham 2007
Mikael Forssell Birmingham City Tottenham Hotspur 2007
Gabriel Agbonlahor Aston Villa Manchester City 2008
Emmanuel Adebayor Arsenal Blackburn Rovers 2008
Salomon Kalou Chelsea Stoke City 2010
Didier Drogba Chelsea Wigan Athletic 2010
Louis Saha Everton Blackpool 2011
Edin Dzeko Manchester City Tottenham Hotspur 2011
Demba Ba Newcastle United Stoke City 2011
Yakubu Ayegbeni Blackburn Rovers Swansea City 2011
Pavel Pogrebnyak Fulham Wolverhampton Wanderers 2012
Jordi Gomez Wigan Reading 2012
Kevin Nolan West Ham United Reading 2013
Romelu Lukaku West Bromwich Albion Manchester United 2013
Jonathan Walters Stoke City Queens Park Rangers 2015
Steven Naismith Everton Chelsea 2015
Sergio Aguero Manchester City Newcastle United 2015
Riyad Mahrez Leicester City Swansea City 2015
Sergio Aguero Manchester City Newcastle United 2018
Christian Pulisic Chelsea Burnley 2019
Ollie Watkins Aston Villa Liverpool 2020
Raheem Sterling Manchester City Norwich City 2022
Erling Haaland Manchester City Notingham Forest 2022

Robbie Fowler - three perfect hat-tricks (1993, 1995 and 1999)

Robbie Fowler scored a total of nine hat-tricks in his illustrious 18-year career in the English top flight.

Out of these nine trebles, three of them were perfect hat-tricks, all of which came while playing for Liverpool.

While two out of the three perfect hat-tricks came against Southampton in 1993 and 1999, the other was against rivals Arsenal in 1995.

Yakubu Ayegbeni - two perfect hat-tricks (2007, 2011)

Yakubu Ayegbeni played for four clubs during his stint in the top tier of English football, namely Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton and Blackburn Rovers.

The Nigerian scored 95 goals in 252 appearances in the Premier League to become the fourth-highest African goalscorer in the tournament’s history.

Out of these 95 goals, six of them came in the form of perfect hat-tricks, scored for Everton against Fulham in 2007 and for Blackburn Rovers in their 4-2 win over Swansea City in December 2011.

Sergio Aguero - two perfect hat-tricks (2015, 2018)

Sergio Aguero, who has the most hat-tricks (12) in Premier League history, was one of the most feared strikers during his decade-long tenure at Manchester City.

Among the plethora of remarkable outings, Aguero is fondly remembered for the moment he scored the stoppage time winner against Queens Park Rangers on the final day of his first season with the club in 2011/12 as the Cityzens clinched their first-ever EPL title in the most thrilling fashion possible.

Nevertheless, Newcastle United were among his favourite opponents as he scored 15 goals in 14 appearances while playing against them, which includes two perfect hat-tricks in 2015 and 2018. 

In the 2015 clash, Aguero’s onslaught saw him smash five goals in 23 minutes in City’s 6-1 win to become only the fifth player in EPL history to score as many goals in a single match and the fastest to do so.

 

Photo credit: Alamy