The master of the hat-trick

It was a hat-trick that summed up “the striker’s art”, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. In Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Arsenal, on Sunday, Sergio Agüero’s goals came from “an innate understanding of where the ball would arrive”: he scored all three from close range, including a controversial goal off his elbow. It was the 30-year-old Argentinian’s tenth hat-trick in the Premier League, one short of Alan Shearer’s record. And it took his tally to 157 goals in 227 league matches, giving him an extraordinary average of 0.69 goals per game. This phenomenal goalscorer is “one of the greatest English football has seen”.

When Agüero joined City in 2011, he found his feet instantly, said Charlie Eccleshare in The Daily Telegraph. He scored two goals on his debut; nine months later, he scored City’s winner against QPR, securing the club’s first title in 44 years. There have been injury setbacks since then, but his form has barely dipped: he has never gone more than five league matches without a goal. Yet despite that “uninterrupted, deadeyed accuracy”, he hadn’t quite got his due: not once has he been named player of the year. Unlike so many strikers, Agüero is a “team player”, said Henry Winter in The Times. His six assists this season testify to how hard he works for the team, “creating for others”. Against Arsenal, he even tracked back into City’s box to defend. He is “so much more than a ruthless goal machine”.