Jermain Defoe scored his fourth Premier League hat-trick but where does he rank?
Thursday 14 January 2016 16:36, UK
Jermain Defoe scored the fourth Premier League hat-trick of his career in Sunderland's 4-2 win over Swansea on Wednesday night, but where does he rank?
The former England striker, who has also played for West Ham, Tottenham and Portsmouth in the Premier League, opened the scoring for the Black Cats before netting a controversial second and completing his treble from close range in the dying minutes.
It took his tally to nine goals for the season and boosted Sunderland's survival chances, with manager Sam Allardyce declaring the 33-year-old's firepower could be the key to keeping the club up.
It was Defoe's first Premier League hat-trick since Tottenham's 9-1 win over Wigan in November 2009 and put him level with the likes of Sergio Aguero, Matt Le Tissier, Fernando Torres and Les Ferdinand on four.
England legend Alan Shearer sits at the top of the pile with 11 hat-tricks, nine of which came in the space of just three years at Blackburn Rovers, with the other two coming at Newcastle.
Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, who scored one of his hat-tricks for Leeds United, is second on nine, while Sky Sports pundit Thierry Henry and Michael Owen are next on the list with eight each.
The highest-ranking current Premier League player is Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, who was just a goal away from adding his seventh in Tuesday's 3-3 draw with Newcastle.
Luis Suarez fired six during his time with Liverpool, Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dimitar Berbatov, Andrew Cole and Ian Wright boast five.
Take a look at the full list below...
