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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Erling Haaland is getting even better
(Top photo: Haaland after his hat-trick against West Ham; Catherine Ivill/AMA via Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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