Sergio Aguero scored his third hat-trick of the season, his second in successive Sundays and equalled Alan Shearer's record in the Premier League, yet Ian Wright believes the Argentinian striker is still underappreciated.
Aguero drew level with Shearer on 11 Premier League hat-tricks as he helped Manchester City beat Chelsea 6-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
Most PL hat-tricks
| Player | Hat-tricks | Matches | Matches/hat-trick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shearer | 11 | 441 | 40.1 |
| Aguero | 11 | 229 | 20.8 |
| Fowler | 9 | 379 | 42.1 |
| Kane | 8 | 154 | 19.3 |
| Owen | 8 | 326 | 40.8 |
| Henry | 8 | 258 | 32.3 |
| Rooney | 7 | 476 | 68.0 |
| Suarez | 6 | 110 | 18.3 |
His treble also took Aguero to 160 league goals, eighth in the list of all-time Premier League goalscorers, only two behind Jermain Defoe in seventh and three adrift of sixth-placed Robbie Fowler.
But Wright feels that because there is so much talent in the City squad, Aguero does not receive the plaudits he deserves.
"It's not like he is a [Eden] Hazard, a [Kevin] De Bruyne, a [Eric] Cantona or a [Dennis] Bergkamp, where they play in this area of the field where they are doing unbelievable things," Wright, the former Arsenal striker, said.
"He is just in the box, scoring goals and finishing things off.
"That might not be special to some people but now we are starting to realise that he is doing it on such a consistent basis, that he is a very special player."
Top scorer against Chelsea
Aguero drew level with Shearer for one PL mark but went past the league's all-time top goalscorer with another on Sunday, becoming the player with the most PL goals against Chelsea.
His treble took his total against the Blues to 10, surpassing Shearer and Thierry Henry, both on eight.
Aguero also confirmed his status as a "big match" player.
All five of City's closest rivals – Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal – feature in the top eight of opponents Aguero has scored the most against in the league.
And in 64 matches against fellow "top-six" sides, Aguero has scored a remarkable 43 goals.