Most hat-tricks in a Premier League season: Where does Erling Haaland rank?
In October, a petition arguing that Erling Haaland should be banned from the Premier League on account of the fact that he is a robot attracted more than 1.8 million signatures.
The people may have spoken but no one was willing (or daring enough) to search Manchester City's goal machine for any hardware. Not only has he remained in the division, but he has continued to plunder goals with cold, remorseless efficiency.
Wolverhampton Wanderers were the latest victims in Haaland's assault on every Premier League goalscoring record available. In the space of 14 minutes either side of half-time, the 22-year-old racked up his fourth hat-trick of the season already.
Here's a look at the prolific players Haaland is rubbing shoulders with after his lastest treble.
Most Premier League hat-tricks in a single season
9. Alan Shearer (1994/95) - 3
The only Premier League season of Alan Shearer's career which saw the fearsome striker feature in every match ended with his only title. The trio of trebles Shearer plundered in 1994/95 were not his first and nor would they be his last...
8. Ruud van Nistelrooy (2002/03) - 3
Ruud van Nistelrooy scored more than 20 goals in four of his five Premier League campaigns - netting just six in an injured-hampered 2004/05. However, the Dutch poacher only bagged one Premier League title or Golden Boot. They both came during his hat-trick heavy 2002/03 season.
7. Dimitar Berbatov (2010/11) - 3
Manchester United recorded the fewest away wins of any Premier League champions during the 2010/11 campaign. Unsurprisingly, United's - and the league's - top scorer bagged 16 of his 20-goal haul at Old Trafford, with all three of Dimitar Berbatov's hat-tricks that term coming at the Theatre of Dreams.
6. Luis Suarez (2013/14) - 3
Luis Suarez - once he had served his ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic - was red hot throughout the 2013/14 campaign. However, the toothy Uruguayan went supernova in December, nabbing a record-breaking ten league goals that month alone. Four of those were part of a characteristic mauling against Norwich City, the second of his three hat-tricks that season.
5. Sergio Aguero (2017/18) - 3
Sergio Aguero may have had "a lot of problems" with Pep Guardiola when the Catalan coach first arrived at Manchester City. But by Guardiola's second Premier League season, the pair had clearly found a way to work together, rubbing along well enough for Aguero to bag three hat-tricks en route to City's 100-point, title-winning campaign.
4. Sergio Agüero (2018/19) - 3
For the second season on the spin, Aguero ended the campaign with a winner's medal and a hat-trick of hat-tricks. After netting against Huddersfield Town, Aguero saved his trebles for the two Europa League finalists that season; Arsenal and Chelsea, equalling Shearer's record of 11 career Premier League hat-tricks - a tally he would surpass the following year.
3. Harry Kane (2016/17) - 4
So much for a one-season wonder. Kane hit his hat-trick peak two years after his breakthrough campaign. Tottenham's serial record-breaker nabbed four trebles in 2016/17 and six in the calendar year of 2017 overall. No player has ever scored so many in one year.
2. Erling Haaland (2022/23) - 4
Haaland's treble against Wolves took his seasonal tally to a sickening 25 just 19 games into his Premier League career. With half a century of strikes to his name, Haaland would finish as outright or joint-top scorer in 16 of the previous 30 Premier League seasons.
1. Alan Shearer (1995/96) - 5
15 of Shearer's 31 goals during the 1995/96 season came in just five games as Coventry, Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Bolton and Tottenham fell foul of a Shearer special.
