Ronaldo's on the hat-trick trail but how does Premier League treble tally compare to past seasons?

Paul Okey
18 April 2022

Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick vs Norwich Apr22

The hat-tricks are coming thick and fast in the Premier League so does that mean goals have been easier to come by this season?

Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a hat-trick on Saturday as Manchester United sneaked past Norwich City 3-2 to keep their top-four dreams alive.

Not only was it Ronaldo's second hat-trick in three games (and 60th of his career), it was also the fourth hat-trick since the start of March, with Ivan Toney and Heung-min Son having also bagged trebles.

It took the hat-trick tally for the season to 11 with around one-sixth of the season still to play.

But how does that compare to previous Premier League seasons?

Planet Sport takes a look.

Most hat-tricks in a Premier League season

The most Premier League hat-tricks in a season is 19 which occurred in 1993/94 and 2011/12. However, the 2011/12 season takes the crown, with only 380 games played as opposed to 462 in 1992/93 when the Premier League was still 22 clubs.

Two of those hat-tricks were back-to-back trebles from Wayne Rooney, one of only five players to have scored hat-tricks in successive Premier League games - Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Didier Drogba and Harry Kane (twice) being the others.

The high number of trebles in 2011/12 also correlates with the second-most goals scored in a Premier League campaign, with the season seeing 1,066 at an average of 2.81 per game.

Only 2018/19 saw more, with 1,072 goals scored at an average of 2.82. However, that season only featured 11 hat-tricks.

With 65 games still to play in the Premier League in 2021/22 there have been 877 goals at an average of 2.78 per game.

Fewest hat-tricks in a Premier League season

Since the Premier League was reduced to 20 teams in 1995/96 there have been 313 hat-tricks at an average of 11.6 per season.

The fewest hat-tricks were recorded in the 2006/07 season when just three players - Rooney, Didier Drogba and Peter Crouch - scored three times in the same game. Crouch's hat-trick, for Liverpool against Arsenal, was a perfect hat-trick, comprising a goal with his right food, one with his left and a header. Thirty-five players have achieved the feat.

The 2006/07 season also had the lowest goals scored of any Premier League season; 931 and at average of 2.45 a game.

The following season there were 15 hat-tricks.

Most individual hat-tricks in Premier League history

Former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero holds the record for the most Premier League hat-tricks, with 12. Alan Shearer netted 11, while Harry Kane is Aguero's nearest active challenger, with eight top-flight trebles to his name.

Despite having helped himself to two hat-tricks in his last three, Cristiano Ronaldo has only ever registered one other Premier League treble. That came for United in their 6-0 thrashing of Newcastle back in January 2008.

Season	Games	Goals	Per game	Hat-tricks
1992/93	462	1222	2.65	14
1993/94	462	1195	2.59	19
1994/95	462	1195	2.59	13
1995/96	380	988	2.60	16
1996/97	380	970	2.55	12
1997/98	380	1019	2.68	16
1998/99	380	959	2.52	12
1999/00	380	1060	2.79	13
2000/01	380	992	2.61	14
2001/02	380	1001	2.63	7
2002/03	380	1000	2.63	13
2003/04	380	1012	2.66	10
2004/05	380	974	2.56	8
2005/06	380	944	2.48	7
2006/07	380	931	2.45	3
2007/08	380	1002	2.64	15
2008/09	380	942	2.48	6
2009/10	380	1053	2.77	14
2010/11	380	1063	2.80	17
2011/12	380	1066	2.81	19
2012/13	380	1063	2.80	13
2013/14	380	1052	2.77	8
2014/15	380	975	2.57	10
2015/16	380	1026	2.70	14
2016/17	380	1064	2.80	11
2017/18	380	1018	2.68	10
2018/19	380	1072	2.82	11
2019/20	380	1034	2.72	11
2020/21	380	1024	2.69	12
2021/22	315	877	2.78	10