Premier League Hat-Trick Stats as Harry Kane Chases Record

Article By Charlie Mullan

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I spent 11 years as a sports reporter at the Hull Daily Mail before spending a couple of years at the Press Association, where I helped set up their bespoke betting channel using sports data to provide content to accompany odds operators were offering in key matches. I now use a vast collection of sports data to help tell a story and highlight the best odds available in various sports at Gambling.com and bookmakers.co.uk.

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Last Updated: 29 Apr 2021

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It may have taken a while, but the Premier League finally got its tenth hat-trick of the season last weekend.

It's the seventh successive season in which hat-tricks have reached double figures.

No player had taken a match ball home with them in top flight football since Kelechi Iheanacho struck three times for Leicester in a 5-0 home win against Sheffield United on March 14.

But Chris Wood finally took the tally this campaign to 10 with three goals in Burnley's win 4-0 at Wolves on Sunday.

It was the 346th hat-trick scored in the history of the Premier League and the first to be scored by a New Zealander.

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Wood's hat-trick wasn't just any treble, this was only the third first half hat-trick scored by an away player in the 29 seasons of the competition.

A total of 8,271 days had elapsed since Liverpool's Michael Owen rubbed his hands together in that famous celebration after his third first half goal at Newcastle on August 30, 1998.

But Chris Sutton wrote his name in the history books first by beating Owen to the feat 12 months earlier when he found the net three times in the first half of Blackburn's 4-0 win at Aston Villa on August 13, 1997.

Owen's hat-trick was the fastest, taking 15 minutes, while Sutton struck three times in 20 minutes.

Wood's treble may have taken 29 minutes to complete, but it meant everything to Burnley, who moved nine points clear of the relegation places with five matches left to play.

The 2020/21 football season began with a flurry of hat-tricks, with four in September, two in October, and one in November.

However, since the end of November, there have been just three - one in February, one in March and now one in April.

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Players Who Have Scored Doubles This Season

Since the start of the season, players have come up a goal short of recording a hat-trick in the Premier League 69 times.

Thirteen of those have come since Iheanacho's three goals against the Blades last month.

The Nigerian has been in tremendous form of late scoring nine goals in his last seven Premier League games and is 40/1 with Paddy Power to take home the match ball against Southampton this Friday.

In the last four seasons, including the current campaign, a total of 42 hat-tricks have been scored, but only nine have come after February ends.

So why has it taken so long for the tenth hat-trick of the season to be scored? Squad rotation plays a part.

If a striker scores twice to give his side a 2-0 lead or better, managers are inclined to replace their in-form forward with a defensive minded player to hold on to what they have.

Every point is precious in the Premier League so tactically it makes sense for managers to make those changes.

Proven scorers are valuable assets, and after scoring twice in one game, it means they will be rested and saved for another day.

Tottenham's Harry Kane is the exception to that rule and despite playing every minute he possibly can, Kane is without a hat-trick this season.

In fact, Kane last took the match ball home with him on Boxing Day 2017, when he scored three times in Spurs' 5-2 win over Southampton at Tottenham's temporary home Wembley.

Tottenham's talisman will hope to end his 105-game run without a hat-trick this weekend when he faces relegated Sheffield United in north London on Sunday.

Kane is 10/1 with William Hill to score three times against Paul Heckingbottom's struggling side.

Since his three goals against Saints in 2017, Kane has been on a hat-trick 13 times without getting the job done and that includes five matches this campaign.

The 27-year-old is well on course to beat Sergio Aguero's record of 12 Premier League hat-tricks and Kane has time on his side to score the five trebles needed to overtake Manchester City's all-time leading scorer.

Premier League Hat-Tricks This Season

Aguero's future lies elsewhere next season after his exit from the Etihad was confirmed recently and the next chapter of his glorious career might take him to another country and leave him stuck on 12 trebles.

The Argentine should get a few opportunities to add to his total before the season ends as City look to add the Premier League and Champions League titles to the Carabao Cup they won for the fourth successive season last weekend.

City manager Pep Guardiola has rotated his squad on a regular basis and will continue to do so before the season is out to ensure they win two more trophies.

Aguero scored three hat-tricks last season but injuries have restricted him to just one goal in nine league appearances this campaign.

The Premier League has 52 fixtures remaining this season, and there is a small chance the 350th Premier League hat-trick will be scored before the curtain comes down on the current campaign.

However, with just three hat-tricks scored in the last 96 matches, the league might have to wait until next season for the four to be scored to see that milestone achieved.

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I spent 11 years as a sports reporter at the Hull Daily Mail before spending a couple of years at the Press Association, where I helped set up their bespoke betting channel using sports data to provide content to accompany odds operators were offering in key matches. I now use a vast collection of sports data to help tell a story and highlight the best odds available in various sports at Gambling.com and bookmakers.co.uk.

Read Full Bio

Charlie Mullan

Last Updated:   29 Apr 2021

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