Remembering Robbie Fowler's 5-Minute Hat-Trick vs .Arsenal
Former Liverpool man Robbie Fowler celebrates his 41st birthday on Saturday, and as the club mark their legendary striker's storied Merseyside career, one achievement stands out: Fowler's remarkable five-minute hat-trick at home to Arsenal in 1994.
Putting the ball beyond England goalkeeper David Seaman three times on the way to a 3-0 victory over the Gunners, Fowler etched his name into Merseyside folklore and, at 19, made a big step towards godlike status.
It remains one of the Premier League's defining achievements, and coming a year after his official retirement—Fowler announced the end of his career on Twitter at the beginning of 2015, on the news that Steven Gerrard was to leave Liverpool—stands as Fowler's greatest footballing feat; and testament to a rare goalscoring phenomenon.
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Fowler's first season in the Liverpool first team came in 1993/94, with the Toxteth-born talent making a swift impression on Graeme Souness' squad, building on his performances for the England under-18s over the summer—under Ted Powell, Fowler scored five goals as England won the European Under-18 Championship.
Netting 12 goals in 28 league games that season, Fowler made his mark on Merseyside, while a five-goal haul at home to Fulham in the League Cup second round showed his predatory instinct; he was the Reds' second-top scorer that season, with 18 goals in all competitions.
It wasn't until the following season that Fowler truly established himself as a key fixture at Liverpool, however, and lining up alongside Ian Rush in his second league appearance of the 1994/95 campaign, Roy Evans' No. 23 dazzled the 30,017-strong Anfield crowd.
Though his burgeoning partnership with Rush was one of the league's most formidable attacking prospects, Arsenal had built an exceptional defensive line of Lee Dixon, Martin Keown, Tony Adams and Nigel Winterburn.
This made Fowler's heroics all the more impressive, as in four minutes and 33 seconds the striker had decimated the Gunners and guaranteed Liverpool a priceless victory.
His first came after Rush capitalised on a Keown error, nudging the ball past Dixon and into Fowler's path, with the youngster firing low beyond Seaman after just 26 minutes.
Just over two minutes later, Steve McManaman picked the ball up in the middle of the park and surged into space in front of the Arsenal defence. With Fowler peeling away from the distracted Dixon, McManaman laid the ball into the path of his fellow academy graduate, who duly placed the ball out of Seaman's reach for his second.
Fowler's third was perhaps the most characteristic of his talent as a pure poacher: Latching on to a chipped pass from John Barnes, the striker saw his initial effort blocked by Seaman, but rounding the goalkeeper at the second time of asking, Fowler tiptoed along the touchline on his left foot before lashing in with his right.
Anfield erupted, and as Barnes told the Guardian's Sachin Nakrani 20 years on, Fowler made his name as Merseyside's "God":
"We all knew how good Robbie was but after that hat-trick everyone else took notice as well.
For a player so young to do that to Arsenal was incredible; at that time, if you scored once against them you didn’t score two and three. But Robbie did, and in no time at all.
He announced his arrival to the Premier League that day.
"
Liverpool finished fourth in the Premier League that season, with Fowler scoring 25 goals in 42 league games, surpassing Rush as the Reds' most productive goalscorer; Rush would turn out for the Reds for just one more season, passing the torch at the end of 1995/96 as he joined Leeds United on a free transfer.
Fowler held the record for the Premier League's fastest hat-trick for 21 years, before Southampton's Sadio Mane put three past Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given in just 2 minutes and 56 seconds as the Saints romped to a 6-1 victory at the end of the 2014/15 season.
Despite this, Fowler's hat-trick remains one of the most iconic moments in Premier League history and prefaced one of the most entertaining periods for Liverpool since the league's inception in 1992.
Under Evans, Fowler spearheaded an emphatic attacking side that included fellow bright lights such as McManaman, Jamie Redknapp, Stan Collymore and Michael Owen, with the Reds contributing to a gripping four-horse race to the title in 1996/97.
Liverpool's top goalscorer that season was, naturally, Fowler, with 18 goals in 32 league games—underlining Barnes' belief that the striker was "without doubt the most naturally gifted goalscorer I have ever played with."
Fowler remains Liverpool's sixth-highest goalscorer in history, with 183 strikes, behind only Rush (346), Roger Hunt (285), Gordon Hodgson (241), Billy Liddell (228) and Gerrard (186) and serves as a reminder of the fruits of the club's academy.
Assessing the current Liverpool squad under Jurgen Klopp, it is clear the German would welcome a goalscorer as consistently potent as Fowler—or a midfielder as effortlessly talented as McManaman or a winger with the skill, vision and power of Barnes—with open arms.
The archetypal No. 9 and a benchmark for any striker arriving at Liverpool, Fowler enjoys legendary status on Merseyside—and three goals at home to Arsenal back in 1994 went a long way towards ensuring this.
Statistics via Transfermarkt.co.uk and LFCHistory.net.
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