Manchester City are the Premier League hat-trick kings after Erling Haaland’s latest treble took the club to the top of the all-time charts.
City were level with Liverpool on 42 hat-tricks, but Holland’s exploits at West Ham put them ahead of their modern-day rivals.
After scoring three goals against Ipswich Town at the weekend, Haaland has now bagged a hat-trick of false starts for the second time in his short City career and now has eight goals in the competition, in just 69 games.
But Sergio Aguero remains at the top, both at City and in the Premier League. Aguero has 12 hat-tricks in 275 games and although his hat-tricks have been spread across nine years, the first in 2011 and the last in 2020, seven of them have been scored during Pep Guardiola’s reign.
If we look at just those seven, his ratio is very similar to that of Holland, as he achieved them in just 70 games.
The moral of the story is probably that if you give Guardiola a death blow, he’ll want to put them in positions to score lots of goals.
Two men, 20 Premier League hat-tricks (Mark Atkins/Getty Images)
During Guardiola’s reign, City won 27 of their 42 Premier League titles, with Aguero and Holland winning 15 between them. Raheem Sterling added four (plus one under Manuel Pellegrini), Phil Foden three, plus one each from Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres and Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne, who has assisted both Aguero and Holland on 32 of their league goals, recently outlined the strengths of the two forwards when asked by reporters if Holland was the best striker he had played against.
“In the box I say yes. Everywhere, maybe Sergio, but it depends on what you mean by that. Erling is the most productive striker I have ever played with.”
No one would dispute that assessment, as Aguero is a bit more of an all-rounder, particularly in terms of passing and dribbling, while Haaland is an even more ruthless finisher.
A look at their hat-tricks also tells the story. Most of their goals are very similar within their respective hat-tricks, whether they are close-range shots or great one-on-ones (and penalties), proving once again that they play in the same team, which helps create this. The opportunities for the attackers are very good.
Aguero has been plagued with some truly blockbuster goals, such as the all-time top scorer against Chelsea in February 2019, which came a week after scoring three goals against Arsenal.
There was also a header against Leicester City that was assisted by 17-year-old Phil Foden (it was actually Aguero’s fourth game, but it’s a great example of the kind of goal he can score).
One of his most memorable goals in 2017 was a hat-trick at Watford, after he passed four players and slammed the ball in from a tight angle.
With the Netherlands, his first four league hat-tricks, as well as the first two of his fifth hat-trick, came from 12 yards or less.
Six of the first nine goals were scored from inside the penalty area. Only one of his hat-tricks came from outside the area, his third this season against Ipswich, and even that came more as a shot than a strike.
Holland’s other goals have all been very similar, from outside the box, where he crosses the ball into the bottom corner as if it were a normal close-range finish, such as at Wolverhampton Wanderers two seasons ago or at home to Brighton & Hove Albion last season.
If you had to design a “perfect” hat-trick for these two men, there would be big similarities.
One of those three goals had to be a penalty, as they scored six of their hat-tricks from the spot. More emphasis would probably have been placed on Holland’s effort.
The second would likely be a shot from inside the six-yard box, as both have proven their ability to be in the right place time and time again, not only with their hat-tricks but with many of their other goals as well.
Thirdly, if we keep things similar, a one-on-one with the goalkeeper could easily end well.
Haland scored the third goal against West Ham in City’s last game…
another fact @ErlingHaaland! 😤 pic.twitter.com/POgNAmt9sf
– Manchester City (@ManCity) August 31, 2024
…which is similar to the third of Aguero’s five goals against Newcastle in 2015.
And since neither of them has scored more than three goals in a game (Aguero has two fours and five in the league, Haaland has four against Wolves (and five against RB Leipzig in the Champions League), let’s leave them with the fourth.
Both are showing their finishing prowess here: Holland showed with his second goal at the weekend and his fourth against Wolves last season that he can shoot from inside the box.
Aguero’s most important goal was probably a shot from a tight angle, like the one at Old Trafford in 2013 or the decisive one against Queens Park Rangers in 2012.
As far as goals that have been part of his hat-tricks go, perhaps this was a fitting fourth goal against Aston Villa, where he had some lovely touches from outside the box before the absolute winner.
One could probably even add a few minutes to Holland’s ‘perfect’ hat-trick, where there is even an example of some of his trebles, or the number of times he has scored twice, but before getting his third goal off the field.
While he has scored four league hat-tricks in one half, there are times when he scores two goals in a first half and then finishes it all off.
It may be a renewal bias, as the Netherlands have conceded two goals in 30 minutes twice this season and then scored their third in the final 10 minutes – which also happened against United two years ago – but there have been plenty of occasions when they have scored twice before the break, raising expectations of another hat-trick, only for Guardiola to drop him when City had a busy schedule.
It has happened five times in just over two Premier League seasons and the best example was probably in April 2023, when he scored twice in 25 minutes against Leicester in stoppage time as City prepared for their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
It also happened when he was looking for a double hat-trick in the Champions League; after scoring five goals against Leipzig in 57 minutes, he was sent off after five minutes.
The Netherlands react to their substitution against Leipzig in 2023 (Sean Botterill/Getty Images)
So Holland’s impressive hat-trick would probably consist of penalty number 14, shot number 28 and a shot with 15 minutes left (about 45 seconds before he was substituted).
You could never count on Aguero to score, but as City’s top scorer and hat-trick king, you always knew you didn’t have to expect long.
City fans can count themselves lucky to have seen both players score a generational goal over the past 13 years.
2024-09-11 05:36:14