Yossi Benayoun’s hat-trick against Burnley on the 8th of September was the 200th in the history of the English Premier League.

Benayoun’s treble was the second of the 2009-2010 season following England striker Jermain Defoe’s triple strike against Hull City on August 19th.

Of the 200 hat-tricks to date Alan Shearer leads the way with 11, followed by Robbie Fowler, now plying his trade in Australia, with nine and then former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and Manchester United striker Michael Owen with eight each. Owen is the only current player with more than three hat-tricks.

Eric Cantona scored the first hat-trick in the Premier League on 25th August 1992 against Tottenham Hotspurs for Leeds.

Arsenal players have scored the most hat-tricks with 28 scored by the team.

Some record’s show 201 hat-tricks, with Nicolas Anelka attributed a hat-trick for Manchester City against Everton on the 31st August 2002, but one of the goals has been re-credited as an own-goal by Everton’s Tomasz Radzinski.

For the first time in a European club tournament, tonight’s Europa League matches will have two extra officials.

The referee will have four assistants, with two officials placed behind the goal lines at each end.

Although it is an experiment, the system of five officials could become the norm if it is successful.

The plan is for the extra officials to aid decisions such as whether the ball has crossed the goalline and penalty decisions.

From next season England’s Premier League clubs have agreed new rules on the number of “home-grown” players in their squads.

Each club will, at the end of every transfer window, have to name at least eight “home-grown” players in a squad of 25.

To qualify as home grown, a player will have had to be registered for at least three seasons at an English or Welsh club between the ages of 16 and 21.

According to a recent poll from the Professional Football Players’ Observatory, English clubs employ the highest proportion of expatriate players, with 59.2% coming from abroad.

Liverpool have the highest percentage in Europe of expatriate players within their squad, measuring 90%.

On Wednesday, 9th September, Thierry Henry became the first Frenchman to score 50 international goals when he scored the equaliser in his country’s World Cup qualifier against Serbia.

Henry scored his first international goal in a 3-0 win against South Africa at the 1998 World Cup.

On Wednesday, 9 September, Czech Republic’s Milan Baros netted four times in his country’s World Cup qualifier against San Marino. The quartet of goals equalled the output by Poland’s Ebi Smolarek against the same opponents on 1 April of this year.

Worldwide, the record for this qualifying is six goals in one match by Fiji’s Osea Vakatalesau, who is also the overall top scorer in 2010 World Cup qualifying with 12 goals.

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Further to the last post, if Scotland do fail to beat the Dutch tomorrow night it could also scupper any hopes David Weir has of becoming the oldest outfield player in Scotland’s international history.

Weir if selected tomorrow night will be 39 years and 122 days old, still 84 days younger than Jimmy McMenemy when he played his last game against Northern Ireland at Celtic Park in March 1920.

If the Scots do beat Holland it will give them a place in the play-offs which will take place in November, so Weir will still just be short of McMenemy’s age.

Goalkeeper Jim Leighton holds the record for oldest international appearance for Scotland, he was 40 years and 78 days old when he appeared against Estonia in 1998.

Scotland complete their World Cup qualifying campaign seeking a win against Holland at Hampden Park to move closer to a place in South Africa next summer.

With Holland already qualified, Scotland will be aiming to secure a Play-Off slot as one of the eight best runners-up.

They are in the only group with five teams, with the other eight six-team groups not completed until next month.

However, it is possible that Scotland could confirm their Play-Off status on Wednesday evening, as follows…

- Scotland must beat Holland
- In Group Three, Slovakia must avoid defeat in Northern Ireland AND Slovenia and Poland must draw.
- That would mean the runner-up in Group Three, with results v San Marino deducted, could not reach Scotland’s 13 points total.

The Group Three games are not counted as, to make up for the discrepancy between five and six team groups, the results involving the bottom team in each six team group are ignored.

Only Andorra in Group Six can match San Marino’s record of no points after eight games.

After fifty-five games away from home in World Cup qualifiers, Luxembourg managed to keep their first ever clean sheet when they held Moldova to a draw on Saturday, 5th September.

It was only their second ever draw away from home in qualifiers too, they drew 1-1 with Belgium back in 1989.

Luxembourg’s first game away in the World Cup was back in 1937 when they were beaten 4-0 by Holland in Rotterdam.

Bolivia played 52 qualifiers away from home between September 1957 and September 2008 before they got their first clean sheet in Brazil.

Sheffield United keeper Paddy Kenny has been suspended from all football for nine months for failing a drugs test.

The 31-year-old tested positive for a banned substance, ephedrine, following last season’s Championship play-off semi-final second leg against Preston.

And while a statement read “its use was not intended to enhance performance”, Kenny was found guilty by the Football Association’s Regulatory Commission.

The suspension dates back to 22 July, meaning he can return in April, 2010.