The seven PL hat-trick scorers with fewer than 10 goals

Ferran Torres leaves the Premier League with one hat-trick included in his nine goals. That is impressive but not even close to the record.

The following all managed to cram a hat-trick into relatively few Premier League goals.

Ferran Torres (nine goals)

“The smell, the strikers know intuitively where it will arrive. He has this talent. Maybe I have to think about how he can play as a striker because every time he plays in that position, he always has a real sense of goal. He is an incredible signing for us as a young player, he can play in three positions up front, but playing more central, he has an incredible sense of goal.”

It was only in May that Ferran Torres staked a surprise claim to become Manchester City’s centre-forward with a hat-trick against Newcastle. He only strengthened that belief at the start of the season. The Spaniard started the first four Premier League games of 2021/22, sending Arsenal’s defence notably dizzy in August, before rotation with Raheem Sterling, an ankle injury and international breaks stunted his momentum. His nine Premier League goals came in 19 starts before a move to Barcelona that the Catalans can absolutely afford.

Clive Mendonca (eight goals)
After scoring the last hat-trick for an English team at the old Wembley Stadium to fire Charlton into the Premier League, Clive Mendonca waited until the Addicks’ first home game in the top flight for eight years to make his mark on a grander stage. He helped tear Southampton to shreds in a 5-0 win in August 1998, following up strikes from John Robinson and Neil Redfearn to score three times in 25 second-half minutes. A couple more goals in September followed but things soon dried up as Charlton slid towards the drop and Mendonca’s only Premier League season ended in relegation.

Aruna Dindane (eight goals)
There might be no more archetypal a ‘Portsmouth in the late 2000s’ player than Aruna Dindane. Loaned from Lens by Paul Hart, the striker started four Premier League games without scoring, inspired a 4-0 win over Wigan with three goals and one assist, then scored in victories over Burnley and Wolves, as well as draws against Sunderland and Bolton, having missed six straight games in March and April because Portsmouth would have had to pay £4m had Dindane made one more appearance. A subsequent move to the similarly financially sensible Blackburn collapsed in summer 2010, before the forward returned to the Premier League for a few months in 2013 to never even make a matchday squad at Crystal Palace.

Gordon Strachan (seven goals)
The first time multiple Premier League hat-tricks were scored on the same day came on April 10, 1993. While Les Ferdinand was putting three past Nottingham Forest for QPR, a 36-year-old Gordon Strachan struck thrice for Leeds against Blackburn. One of few outfielders to play into their 40s as professional standards were raised in more than one way with the top-flight breakaway, Strachan might forever remain the only Premier League hat-trick scorer born before 1960, at least until the surprise return of Kenny Dalglish and his unstoppable arse. Two gloriously identical penalties and a well-worked goal crafted with the help of Jamie Forrester put Rovers to the sword.

Somen Tchoyi (seven goals)
West Brom fans will never forget Tchoyi Story 3, the single greatest production in the ridiculous history of final Premier League matchdays. The Cameroonian was widely considered to have played woefully in a dead-rubber against Newcastle, yet suddenly scored three times in the final half an hour to rescue a point for the Baggies. It ended a season in which the forward also netted against Manchester United, Everton and in the reverse fixture at home to the Magpies. Those exploits earned Tchoyi a full season under Roy Hodgson, but 647 minutes in 2011/12 were only good for one more goal in February 2012 against Fulham.

Shinji Kagawa (six goals)
Between April 2012 and December 2013, Norwich managed to concede five Premier League hat-tricks while finishing 12th and 11th in the table. Luis Suarez was responsible for three of them. Carlos Tevez claimed another. But it was Shinji Kagawa who became the first Asian player to score three times in one English top-flight game against the Canaries. A difficult debut campaign at Manchester United started well enough in the opening weeks with efforts against Fulham and Tottenham, but Kagawa had to wait until March 2013 for his next goals. Three at home to Norwich pushed Sir Alex Ferguson’s side closer to the Premier League title, with one more coming in that 5-5 draw against West Brom.

Fredi Bobic (four goals)
‘Go out and win the f**king match!’ was the message Fredi Bobic recalled Sam Allarcyce giving in April 2002. “Old-fashioned English,” the former Bolton striker later said. “It worked.” That it did: Bobic scored a first-half hat-trick as the Trotters took a four-goal half-time lead against relegation rivals Ipswich. They were to be his final goals for Bolton before ending his loan to join Hannover that summer. The only other time Bobic scored for Bolton was two games prior in a similarly crucial victory over Aston Villa. Four goals. One hat-trick. Not bad.