29 December MW 18 & 19
HAT-TRICK HEAVEN
Chris Wood’s hat-trick against his former club Newcastle was the eighth of the season equalling the number scored throughout the whole of last season. Wood’s goals came in 46th, 53rd and 60th minutes, becoming the quickest of the season so far.
This was only the fourth time that a player has scored a hat-trick against his old club – the first was also against Newcastle by Andy Cole for Manchester United in August 1999. Marcus Bent did so for Wigan in 2007 against Blackburn and Josh King for Bournemouth against Everton in 2021.
Wood’s was only the second individual Premier League treble by a Forest player, the previous one came in 1996/97 by Kevin Campbell away at Coventry City. It was also the New Zealander’s second, having scored three for Burnley away at Wolves in April 2021.
OWN GOAL DOUBLES
Sheffield United have had a pretty dismal first half of the season as they sit bottom of the table with only nine points after 19 matches. Not only did they suffer their highest ever league defeat when losing 8-0 to Newcastle at Bramall Lane in September but earlier this month they were humbled 5-0 at Turf Moor by a Burnley team that had lost all their previous seven at home.
Their recent 3-2 loss to Luton was sealed by a pair of own goals in the space of four minutes from Jack Robinson and Anis Slimane, which compounded the misery of throwing away a 2-1 lead in the space of four horrible minutes. Sheffield United join an infamous group of clubs – Leicester City, Liverpool, QPR, Stoke City, Swansea and West Ham – that have notched up two own goals in the same match.
But at least none of these six have reached the depths that Sunderland somehow contrived to find in February 2003 when they managed a hat-trick of own goals in the space of seven minutes at home to Charlton. The Black Cats must have encountered a fair few of their own kind on the way to the Stadium of Light that day and curiously, apart from Wout Faes’ double at Anfield last season, all these calamities happened to the clubs when playing at home.
For more on the history of own goals here are some articles from 2021 –
The Football Mine 