Two players jointly hold the record for scoring the most goals in a single Premier League match. Striker Andrew Cole became the most expensive player in British history when, much to the consternation of the Toon Army, he was transferred from Newcastle United to Manchester United for £7 million on January 10, 1995. However, he went some way to repaying his hefty price tag by scoring 12 goals in 18 Premier League matches for the Red Devils that season, including five in a 9-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town at Old Trafford on March 4, 1995.
On that occasion, Roy Keane opening the scoring after 15 minutes, but Cole was on the scoresheet four minutes later, arriving on the edge of the six-yard box to steer the ball past Ipswich ‘keeper Craig Forrest after a breakway by Ryan Giggs. He made it two after 37 minutes, when a spectacular overhead kick by Mark Hughes hit the crossbar and fell to his feet, and completed his hat-trick eight minutes after half-time, when getting the final touch on a cross by Denis Irwin in a 50:50 challenge with right-back Frank Yallop.
A brace by Mark Hughes made the score 6-0 by just before the hour mark, but Cole had another stroke of good fortune after 65 minutes, when Forrest parried a Brian McClair shot directly into his path for goal number four. A quick-thinking free-kick by Paul Ince, with Forrest stranded on the edge of the penalty area, made it 8-0 after 73 minutes, before Cole turned in a Giggs corner for his fifth goal of the game.
Cole was the first player to score five goals in a Premier League match, but his record was equalled, in timely fashion, by former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer on September 19, 1999. In their first match under the tenure of Sir Bobby Robson, and still seeking their first win of the season after seven fixtures, the Magpies faced Sheffield Wednesday at St. James’s Park and ran riot, winning 8-0. Aaron Hughes opened the scoring, but Shearer completed a first half hat-trick, in the space of 12 minutes, and added two more goals, one from open play and one from the penalty spot, late in the game to complete the rout.