Saturday 16 May 2015 15:22, UK
Southampton’s Sadio Mane set a Premier League record for the fastest ever Premier League hat-trick with his astonishing treble in two minutes and 56 seconds against Aston Villa.
Mane’s hat-trick comfortably beat the previous record held by Robbie Fowler, who famously netted three times in four minutes and 33 seconds for Liverpool against Arsenal in 1994.
The 23-year-old started his remarkable treble in the 13th minute at St Mary’s Stadium when he rolled the ball into an empty net after getting a fortunate deflection off Villa goalkeeper Shay Given.
Mane’s second came just 84 seconds later when he latched onto Ron Vlaar’s underhit backpass and beat Given again, and he completed his treble with a superb first-time finish into the top corner from Shane Long’s cut-back, making him the only player in Premier League history to have scored three goals in the first 16 minutes of a match.
Mane’s hat-trick came 97 seconds quicker than Fowler’s, while Gabriel Agbonlahor and Jermain Defoe are third and fourth having netted trebles in seven minutes for Aston Villa and Tottenham respectively.
In total, nine players have hit hat-tricks in under 15 minutes in Premier League history. Ian Wright’s nine-minute treble for Arsenal against Ipswich in 1995 is the fifth fastest, while Jermaine Pennant scored three in 10 minutes for the Gunners against Southampton in 2005.
Former Manchester United duo Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also fired trebles inside 10 minutes in 1999 and 2000, and Crystal Palace forward Yannick Bolasie props up the list for his 11-minute hat-trick in Crystal Palace’s 4-1 win against Sunderland earlier this season.
While Mane’s treble made Premier League history, he was 30 seconds short of the fastest ever treble in English football, which was scored by James Hayter for Bournemouth against Wrexham in 2004 in two minutes and 20 seconds.
Fastest Premier League hat-tricks
1 Sadio Mane, Southampton v Aston Villa, 2015, three minutes
2 Robbie Fowler, Liverpool v Arsenal, 1995, five minutes
3 Gabriel Agbonlahor, Aston Villa v Man City, 2008, seven minutes
4 Jermain Defoe, Spurs v Wigan, 2009, seven minutes
5 Ian Wright, Arsenal v Ipswich, 1995, nine minutes
6 Jermain Pennant, Arsenal v Southampton, 2003, 10 minutes
7 Teddy Sheringham, Man Utd v Southampton 2000, 10 minutes
8 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Nottingham Forest v Man Utd, 1999, 10 minutes
9 Yannick Bolasie, Sunderland v Crystal Palace 2015, 11 minutes
