The Premier League has been running as the England soccer top division since the 1992-93 season, and after more than 30 years, players keep on reaching historic feats. This turn was for Justin Kluviert, son of historic striker Patrick Kluivert, in Bournemouth‘s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in Matchday 13. Kluivert led the team by scoring a hat-trick, achieving a rare milestone in the Premier League.
Bournemouth were relentless in attack, and Wolves struggled to contain them. The home side was penalized for three fouls inside the box, with Kluivert stepping up to convert all three spot-kicks. In doing so, he became the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick from the penalty spot. Meanwhile, Evanilson made his own piece of history by becoming the first player to win three penalties in a single Premier League match.
The drama began in the opening minutes when Wolves‘ Toti Gomes fouled Evanilson inside the area, earning the first penalty of the evening. After a brief VAR review, Kluivert confidently dispatched the penalty in the 3rd minute to put Bournemouth 1-0 up.
Just 15 minutes later, with the score at 1-2 in Bournemouth’s favor, Evanilson was again fouled inside the box, this time by goalkeeper Jose Sa. Kluivert made no mistake, converting his second penalty and extending the lead.
The third penalty came in the second half. With the score at 2-3, Evanilson’s pressing forced another mistake from the Wolves defense. After stealing the ball from defender Craig Dawson, the Brazilian forward was fouled by Sa once more. Kluivert completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute, calmly slotting home his third penalty of the match.
Kluivert may be the first player to achieve a hat-trick of penalties in the Premier League, but this remarkable feat is not entirely unprecedented in English soccer. The Dutch forward is the first player in 67 years to score a hat-trick of penalties in the English Football League, a record last set by Kenneth Barnes in December 1957 during Manchester City’s 6-2 victory over Everton.
Bournemouth’s victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, which followed two consecutive losses, was vital for the Cherries as they sought to maintain their distance from the relegation zone. With 18 points from 13 matches, Bournemouth are enjoying their second-best start in Premier League history (including first win against Manchester City), just behind the 20 points they collected during the 2018-19 season.
Kluivert’s impressive hat-trick is only the latest achievement in what has been a solid career across Europe’s top leagues. Just one year ago, on November 25th, 2023, Kluivert scored his first-ever Premier League goal, marking another rare milestone. With a goal against Sheffield United, Kluivert became the third player in history to score in all five of Europe’s major leagues: Serie A (Italy), La Liga (Spain), Ligue 1 (France), Bundesliga (Germany), and the Premier League.
In total, Kluivert has scored 9 goals for AS Roma, 4 for RB Leipzig, 6 for OGC Nice, 8 for Valencia, and now 14 for Bournemouth, including his historic hat-trick against Wolves. He joins Romanian forward Florin Raducioiu and Montenegro’s Stevan Jovetic as the only other players to achieve this feat.
