Any Premier League hat-trick is a special moment (in what other situation do you get to keep the match ball, after all?), but a few were even more worth celebrating.
The Premier League has seen more than 200 hat-tricks in its 30-year history – but the vast majority of them have been scored by players who started the game.
However, a select few have scored hat tricks as substitutes – and as Son Heung-min becomes the latest name on an elite roster, FourFourTwo crosses them all.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United, February 6, 1999)
As he lived up to his reputation as a super-sub to even greater effect in this season’s Champions League final, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made history in February 1999 by becoming the first player to score a Premier League hat-trick after coming off the bench.
Manchester United were already 4-1 up at the City Ground when, in the 72nd minute, Sir Alex Ferguson dispatched ‘the baby-faced assassin’ – who actually went on to score four goals (a feat that surprisingly didn’t go away). yet to be repeated by a substitute) as Nottingham Forest went to the sword.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea 5-2 Wolves, March 27, 2004)
Five years later, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink celebrated his 32nd birthday by sacking Chelsea (at that time still with an outside chance to catch Arsenal). Invincible in the title race) to a comfortable win over Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
Introduced on the hour mark with the scores level at 2-2, the Dutchman put Chelsea ahead in the 77th minute – before adding a second 10 minutes later and then completing his third of four rounds of the Premier League hat in stoppage time.
Robert Earnshaw (Charlton 1-4 West Brom, 19 March 2005)
Robert Earnshaw made it a hat-trick of hat-tricks from Premier League substitutes as his three goals saw West Brom leave the Valley with all three points in March 2005.
Charlton had fallen to 10 men from the middle of the first half, but it looked like they were going to hang on for a point – until Earnshaw came along and made history as the first (and , so far, the only) player to score a hat-trick in each of the top four divisions of English football, putting his name in the record books with an 89th-minute penalty.
Emmanuel Adebayor (Derby 2-6 Arsenal, April 28, 2008)
In 2007/08, Emmanuel Adebayor enjoyed the best goalscoring campaign of his career as he netted 30 times in all competitions – reaching the milestone with that hat-trick at Pride Park.
Derby fans must have had enough of the sight of Adebayor: remarkably, the Togolese striker had already scored a hat-trick against the Rams as Arsenal beat them 5-0 at the Emirates earlier in the season.
Romelu Lukaku (West Brom 5-5 Manchester United, May 19, 2013)
Sir Alex Ferguon’s last game as Manchester United manager before retiring was one of the craziest in Premier League history – and it featured the first of three Premier League hat-tricks League for Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgian scored within five minutes of coming on as a half-time substitute – then netted twice in the final quarter as West Brom fought back 5-2 to secure a point against champions.
Steven Naismith (Everton 3-1 Chelsea, 12 September 2015)
We often hear about players who seize their opportunity. Well Steven Naismith did that and then some as he inspired Everton to that momentous win over Chelsea at Goodison Park.
Unlike the other players on this list, the Scotsman wasn’t introduced late – he replaced the injured Muhamed Besic after nine minutes – but he showed Toffees boss Roberto Martinez that he was wrong to leave him out. side from the start (he never scored for Everton again and left for Norwich four months later…).
Son Heung-min (Tottenham 6-2 Leicester, September 17, 2022)
After sharing the 2021/22 Golden Boot with 23 goals, Son Heung-min just couldn’t start in 2022/23: the South Korean Tottenham superstar blanked in each of his first eight outings in all competitions.
Consequently, Antonio Conte dropped the striker for visiting Leicester – a move that certainly seemed to do the trick…
Brought on in the 59th minute, Son put Spurs 4-2 up 14 minutes later – and then netted a 14-minute hat-trick. There are worse ways to open your account for the season!
