Sports
Erling Haaland is aiming for three hat-tricks in a row – but how rare a feat is it?
On Saturday against Brentford, Erling Haaland will attempt to do something nobody has managed since 1946.
The Manchester City striker has scored hat-tricks in his previous two Premier League games and if he can get another at the Etihad Stadium against Thomas Frank’s side this weekend, he will join a very exclusive list of players.
One player getting three goals in three consecutive English top-flight matches has only happened four times — and three of them were before 1930.
Here, The Athletic tells the stories of those four occasions, and the men the 24-year-old Norway international is hoping to emulate.
Opponents: Liverpool, Leicester City, West Ham United
Osborne, Tottenham’s centre-forward, played 26 times for them in all competitions in the 1924-25 season… and didn’t score a single goal.
That summer, the offside law was changed — the number of opposition players needed to be in front of the attacker to make them onside was reduced from three to two. Unsurprisingly, this led to higher-scoring matches and more opportunities for Osborne and his fellow forwards (the goals-per-game rate for the 1925-26 English top flight was 3.69, up from 2.58 a season earlier).
The England international (three caps and zero goals at that point) scored twice away against Sheffield United in his first game of that 1925-26 season. Three more goals came in his next 10 matches, ahead of Liverpool’s visit to White Hart Lane on October 24, where the 29-year-old claimed a hat-trick as Tottenham ran out 3-1 winners.
A week later, in their next match, Osborne — who had been born near Cape Town in what is now South Africa — scored another three goals away against Leicester. Tottenham lost that one 5-3, making it the only instance on this list of a player’s hat-trick coming in a defeat.
The following Saturday, November 7, Osborne became the first player in English top-flight history to score a hat-trick in three consecutive games as Tottenham won 4-2 at home against West Ham.
Frank Osborne, second left, at a golf tournament in 1924 (Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Osborne is the only of these four players who didn’t score four goals in at least one of the matches in question and is also the only one who didn’t get a hat-trick against Arsenal as part of their treble of trebles.
He failed to find the net in Tottenham’s next league game against Newcastle United and scored just one more top-flight hat-trick in his career: against Newcastle in January 1928 (four goals).
However, Osborne’s form in 1925-26 — he finished the season with 25 goals in 39 league appearances — did earn him an international recall and he got a hat-trick against Belgium in the May. It was the first time an England player had scored three times in a game since the First World War.
Tom Jennings, for Leeds United in 1926
Opponents: Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers
Scotsman Jennings scored three hat-tricks in a row to take Leeds from 16th place up to seventh across the early autumn of the 1926-27 season.
The forward joined the Yorkshire club from Scottish side Raith Rovers in 1925 and in his first full season (1925-26), he played every league game, scoring 26 goals.
The then 24-year-old started the 1926-27 season with three goals in seven league matches and then, on September 25, found the net three times against visitors Arsenal as Leeds ran out 4-1 winners. Led by manager Arthur Fairclough, they then travelled to Anfield on October 2 and Jennings put four past Liverpool goalkeeper Arthur Riley, two goals in each half, to help his side win 4-2.
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A week later, Jennings got another four-goal haul as Leeds beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1 at Elland Road.
In Leeds’ next league game, away against Leicester, Jennings scored twice but couldn’t quite manage to make it four in a row, as they were beaten 3-2. This remains the closest anyone has come to scoring four consecutive hat-tricks in the English top flight.
Jennings finished that season with 37 goals in all competitions (35 coming in the league). This total has only been bettered twice in Leeds’ history — both times by John Charles (43 in 1953-54 and 39 in 1956-57), though for the first of those seasons, Leeds were in the Second Division.
The club’s good run quickly ended after Jennings’ three hat-tricks though, with Fairclough’s side only winning six of their final 32 league games and getting relegated.
Dixie Dean, for Everton in 1928
Opponents: Burnley, Arsenal, Bolton Wanderers
Arguably the greatest goalscorer in English footballing history, Dean scored 60 times in the 1927-28 First Division for Everton. No other player — before or since — has even found the net 50 times in an English top-flight campaign.
Dixie Dean leading Everton out – and setting a target for Haaland (Barker/Getty Images)
Dean, who only turned 21 in the January of that season, played in 39 of Everton’s league games and scored in 29 of them. He hit seven hat-tricks and his goals helped the club win the title for the first time in 13 years.
He made it to the 60-goal mark by scoring seven times in the final two games of the season — four at Burnley on April 28 in a 5-3 win and then three at home to Arsenal a week later in a 3-3 draw. This meant he finished the campaign with successive hat-tricks.
Then, on the opening day of the 1928-29 season, Everton won 3-2 away against Bolton Wanderers, with Dean scoring all three to make it a hat-trick of hat-tricks. The England international then failed to score against The Wednesday (now Sheffield Wednesday, who would go on to win the title) in Everton’s next match.
This is the only one of the four instances of three consecutive hat-tricks that was spread across two seasons.
Overall, Dean scored a record 30 hat-tricks in the top division of English football. Haaland has eight, so needs another 23 to surpass this mark. Dean averaged a hat-trick every 12.1 games during his top-flight career in England (30 in 362 appearances) and the Norwegian is averaging one every 8.6 matches (eight in 69 games).
Jack Balmer, for Liverpool in 1946
Opponents: Portsmouth, Derby County, Arsenal
The 1946-47 season was the first to be completed in the English League since the outbreak of the Second World War, and its top flight consisted of the same 22 clubs who had been competing in the 1939-40 version when it was abandoned after each team had played three games.
Liverpool went on to win the title for the first time in 24 years, powered by strikers Balmer and Albert Stubbins, who both scored 24 goals in the league. Ten of Balmer’s 24 (42 per cent) came in three consecutive games in the November.
The then 30-year-old — Balmer is the oldest player on this list — scored all three at Anfield in a 3-0 win against Portsmouth on November 9, before hitting four in 17 minutes away to Derby a week later as George Kay’s side triumphed 4-1. Then, on November 23 in a 4-2 home victory against Arsenal, Balmer completed a feat that hasn’t been emulated in the almost 78 years since by scoring a third consecutive hat-trick.
He scored once in the next game away at Blackpool and hit another four goals before Christmas, but after that his form dropped off and from December 25 to the end of the season he scored just four times in 19 league games (after registering 20 in 20 before that date).
These were the only three hat-tricks that Balmer, who played for Liverpool for his entire career from 1935 to 1952, making over 300 appearances, ever scored.
Haaland contributing to his hat-trick against Ipswich (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Haaland has been in this position before.
Near the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season, his first with City, he scored back-to-back hat-tricks at home against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, but could only find the net once in their next game, away against Aston Villa.
Yet with a rampant City playing Brentford at home on a Saturday at 3pm (Haaland has 17 goals from his 13 league appearances at the Etihad at that kick-off time) there is a genuine possibility he will join Osborne, Jennings, Dean and Balmer.
It would be a remarkable achievement, and one we would be highly unlikely to see again for a very long time.
Over to you, Erling.
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(Top photo: Haaland after his hat-trick against West Ham; Catherine Ivill/AMA via Getty Images)
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Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes will be out for the rest of the season as he suffered a torn ACL on Sunday in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, according to multiple reports.
Mahomes’ knee buckled while he was scrambling and as he was getting hit by Chargers defensive end Da’Shawn Hand. He was helped off the field and he limped to the locker room. An MRI reportedly confirmed the extent of the damage.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes grabs his knee after being injured during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
The quarterback wrote a message to fans as word of his injury trickled out.
“Don’t know why this had to happen,” Mahomes wrote on X. “And not going to lie (it) hurts. But all we can do now is Trust in God and attack every single day over and over again. Thank you Chiefs kingdom for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I Will be back stronger than ever.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid offered a gloomy outlook for Mahomes as he spoke to reporters following the loss.
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Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Odafe Oweh (98) sacks Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Dec. 14, 2025. (Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)
“… It didn’t look good,” Reid said when asked whether he knew if Mahomes’ injury was serious. “I mean you guys saw it. We’ll just see where it goes.”
The loss to the Chargers also meant the Chiefs will not be making the postseason. Kansas City made it to the AFC Championship each season since 2018. They made it to the Super Bowl in each of the last three seasons, winning two titles in that span.
Mahomes will finish the season with 3,398 passing yards and 22 touchdown passes.
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Kansas City is 6-8 on the year.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On a day when the Chargers took a big step toward the postseason, the Kansas City Chiefs lost their most important player.
What started in balmy Brazil ended Sunday in the bitter cold of Arrowhead Stadium. The Chargers completed a season sweep of AFC West bully Kansas City with a 16-13 victory that ultimately knocked the Chiefs out of playoff contention for the first time in 11 years.
It was the third-coldest game in Chargers history — 15 degrees at kickoff — and showcased a red-hot defense that paved the way to Los Angeles wins over Philadelphia and Kansas City, last season’s Super Bowl teams, in consecutive weeks.
“This is a ball team,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said, gleeful after his team won for the sixth time in seven games. “A real ball team.”
This Chargers season, which began with a 27-21 victory over the Chiefs in São Paulo, is just the second in the last 13 years in which they beat their division rival twice.
Harbaugh began his postgame remarks on a somber note, wishing the best for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who left the game late in the fourth quarter after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he was hit by defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand.
Gardner Minshew closed out at quarterback for the Chiefs, and the game ended when Derwin James Jr. intercepted his final pass. There would be no fantastic finish for the franchise that won the last nine division titles.
“We’ve been going at those guys for a while, going back to Baltimore,” said Chargers edge rusher Odafe Oweh, acquired in a trade with the Ravens this season. “It was long overdue.”
A week after Cameron Dicker kicked five field goals in the win over Philadelphia, he kicked three more against the Chiefs.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes grabs his left leg after sustaining a torn ACL in the fourth quarter.
(Reed Hoffmann / Associated Press)
Oweh had two sacks of Mahomes, and Tuli Tuipulotu had two more. The defense had the Chiefs in a hammer lock, limiting them to 190 yards in the air and a mere 49 on the ground.
Still, the Chargers had to dig themselves out of a hole. They faced a 13-3 deficit late in the second quarter before tearing off 13 unanswered points.
Justin Herbert threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to rookie KeAndre Lambert-Smith with five seconds left in the first half to start the comeback. After that it was Dicker and defense for the visitors.
“It was really cool that we were able to close out a one-score game like that,” said Herbert, who said his surgically repaired left hand felt tight in the cold weather but was better, as was his grip on the ball. “How many times we’ve played them and it’s been those one-score games? The defense came up with the turnovers and the stops.”
Kansas City, trailing by three, got all the way down to the visitors’ 17 early in the fourth quarter but the Chargers yet again came up big on defense. Linebacker Daiyan Henley intercepted a third-down pass near the goal line, getting position on running back Kareem Hunt and essentially becoming the receiver on the play.
“I was surprised to even see the ball go up in the air, but I had to revert back to my receiver days and get an over-the-shoulder look,” said Henley, who last lined up as a pass catcher six or seven years ago at the University of Nevada Reno. “Eye-hand coordination is something you just have to have in those moments.”
Not everything the Chargers defense did was so smooth. Safety Tony Jefferson was ejected in the fourth quarter after a helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked Chiefs receiver Tyquan Thornton out of the game. The call to send Jefferson packing was not made by officials on the field, who flagged him for unnecessary roughness, but by league officials watching from New York.
Earlier in the second half, Jefferson flattened receiver Rashee Rice with another devastating hit, and Rice came after him as the Chargers safety made his way off the field and toward the locker room. Players from both sides intervened.
Chargers safety Tony Jefferson leaves the field after being ejected against the Chiefs on Sunday.
(Reed Hoffmann / Associated Press)
In response to the booing crowd, Jefferson raised both middle fingers, a gesture that likely will draw more attention from the league.
“I apologize for that,” he said afterward. “I’m classier than that. I was just caught up in the moment. Emotions get high. I won’t sit here and act like I’m a perfect man. I messed up when I did that.”
The Chargers (10-4), who finish the season at Denver, have yet to lose an AFC West game. They are 5-0 in those and remain within striking distance of the division-leading Broncos.
It won’t be an easy road. The Chargers play at Dallas next Sunday, then play host to Houston before closing out the regular season against the Broncos.
“I started thinking, this is my favorite ball team I’ve ever been on,” Harbaugh said. “Been on some good ones. None better than this one.
“They’re tight. Fates are intertwined. It’s unselfish. Nothing anyone is doing is for themselves.”
And on this frigid Sunday, that paid some unforgettable dividends.
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Indiana University quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first Hoosier to win the coveted Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious award.
Mendoza claimed 2,392 first-place votes, beating Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 votes), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 votes) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 votes).
Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a nation-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores.
Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl Jan. 1.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza runs off the field after a game against Wisconsin Nov. 15, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.
A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. The trophy was established in 1935.
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Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top 10 finish in Heisman balloting, and it marks another first in program history. It now has had players in the top 10 of Heisman voting in back-to-back years. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.
Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four of the last five years. Travis Hunter of Colorado, who played wide receiver and cornerback, won last season.
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Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza throws before a game against Wisconsin Nov. 15, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Mendoza was named The Associated Press Player of the Year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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