Of all the hammerings Liverpool dished out last season, none stood out like their 5-1 victory over Arsenal in early February. It was a remarkable, straight-from-kick-off blitzkrieg of high-level opponents, so much so, in fact, that when putting together a promotional campaign for their coverage of the Premier League it was that match which BT Sport turned to first – a reminder, for those who may have forgotten, of just how wild and breathless football in this country can be.

As stunning as that contest was, however, it was not altogether unique. This Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of a rather similar turn of events at Anfield, and one, it can be argued, with greater long-term significance. For on 28 August 1994, Liverpool not only beat Arsenal 3-0 via a first-half blitz, but history was made and God was born.

That is how Robbie Fowler sees it anyway. He was 19 and making his second appearance in his first full season for Liverpool when he scored what remains the quickest hat-trick in Premier League history. It took him four minutes and 33 seconds to blow away Arsenal with what the Guardian’s esteemed former football correspondent David Lacey described as a “machine-gun rattle of goals” and, in the process, create a biblical level of affection among the Anfield faithful. “It was then that the God nickname began to stick,” remembers Fowler in his autobiography. “My life had already changed but it gathered pace after that.”

Indeed it did, with Fowler going onto become Liverpool’s fifth all-time top scorer with 183 goals in 369 appearances across two spells at the club, as well as the Premier League’s sixth highest scorer with 163 goals. And while it is over-simplistic to say it all began on that late summer’s afternoon – he had, after all, scored 18 goals during the 1993-94 campaign, including five in a League Cup match against Fulham – there is little doubt that match elevated Fowler from exciting prospect to bone fide goalscoring phenomenon, particularly given his hat-trick came against fellow title rivals renowned for having a strong defence and was shown live on Sky Sports, allowing those outside as well as inside Anfield to observe this landmark feat.

“We all knew how good Robbie was but after that hat-trick everyone else took notice as well,” says John Barnes, who set up Fowler’s third goal in the 31st minute of Liverpool’s win two decades ago. “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.”

Speaking immediately after the game Fowler expressed surprise at just how quickly he had scored the hat-trick – his second for the club following one in a 4-2 win against Southampton in October 1993 – believing the three goals had been spread across 15 minutes. For everyone else, however, there was no doubting the speed of the onslaught, and for no one more so than Arsenal’s increasingly beleaguered defence. “It was happening so fast that we didn’t have time to react or regain our composure,” remembers Nigel Winterburn, the Gunners regular left-back. “After the third goal it basically became a case of damage limitation and making sure the scoreline didn’t get ridiculous. Any thought of winning or even drawing the game had gone.”

As Winterburn goes on to say, the sense of shock within the visitors ranks was heightened by the fact they had started the game well, with Ian Wright forcing David James into an early save and the Liverpool goalkeeper then having to deal with that rarest of things; a shot-on-target from John Jensen. Liverpool were soon on the front foot, however, propelled forward by Steve McManaman, who, then aged 22, had scored twice in the opening day 6-1 victory at Crystal Palace.

The turning point was instigated by Martin Keown, who more than anyone else in the Arsenal team had an afternoon to forget. Only playing because Steve Bould had picked up a thigh strain in the 1-0 defeat at Leeds five days earlier, the centre-back gave away a needless free-kick after bundling over Rob Jones by the right touchline, and about halfway inside the Arsenal half, as the full-back looked to control the ball. A little over 25 minutes of the match had been played and, as Fowler puts it, Anfield was about to be sent into “uproar”.

First goal (26 minutes)

With the home crowd chanting “Everton reject” in Keown’s direction, Jamie Redknapp whips the free-kick into the Arsenal area. Keown looks to clear the cross with a header but mistimes his jump, allowing the ball to drop to Ian Rush, whose accidental touch takes it past Lee Dixon and into the path of Fowler. Unmarked, he lashes a first-time left-footed shot over David Seaman.

Second goal (29 minutes)

McManaman collects the ball in a central area just inside Liverpool’s half and, unchallenged, carries it all the way to the edge of the opposition area. With Tony Adams backing off, McManaman then plays a short pass to his left, where there is a sizeable amount of space after Dixon had been drawn towards the man in possession. Fowler brings the ball under control and, from distance, hits a sweeping shot past Seaman and into the far corner of the net.

Third goal (31 minutes)

Following a spell of Arsenal pressure, during which James has to save efforts from Wright and Kevin Campbell, Liverpool get going again down their left side. Barnes plays a pass out to Stig-Inge Bjornebye, who cuts inside Dixon and gives the ball back to Barnes. He then chips a perfectly-weighted pass over Adams and into Fowler’s path, who having timed a run off the shoulder of the Arsenal captain to perfection has a clear run on goal. He sees his attempt saved by the outrushing Seaman, but as the ball bounces off the goalkeeper Fowler runs around the sprawling Keown, controls it on the touchline with his left foot and then whips it into the net with his right as Winterburn charges across in a forlorn attempt to make a decisive block.

Cue bedlam, with Martin Tyler’s commentary, marked by a guttural sense of shock and wonder, capturing the moment perfectly: “He’s away again, is this going to be the hat-trick? It could still be, IT ISSSSS!!”

Watching on from the directors’ box, the Arsenal manager George Graham, for whom a 1-0 win represented utopia, was a picture of stone-cold anger. Fowler, meanwhile, was having a ball. “When we had kicked off the game, I’d had a bit of a laugh with Ian Wright, who’d had some tattoos done,” he remembers. “Every time I scored, we went back to the centre circle and I asked to have a look. After the third goal, we were at kick-off again and he came up to me and said that he was going to get a bandage and cover them up because they were inspiring me too much”.

“That third goal showed what Robbie was all about,” reflects Barnes. “After the keeper saved the first shot, he didn’t snatch at the ball or look to play it across the box. Instead he showed composure and a total lack of panic or fear. That is the mark of all great strikers and, in that moment, Robbie proved that was exactly what he was.

“What was really amazing about Robbie is that he didn’t look like an obviously great player. He wasn’t particularly quick, or tall or skilful, and I remember when he moved from the youth setup to the first-team he was very awkward in his manner on and off the pitch. But it was clear straight away that he had an amazing knack for scoring goals, and all sorts of goals; left-foot, right-foot, headers. In that sense he reminded me of John Aldridge, but as great as Aldridge was Robbie was better; without doubt the most naturally gifted goalscorer I have ever played with.”

Fowler was more than that. Liverpool had been knocked off their perch by Manchester United a year earlier and were finding their attempts to regain supremacy in English football difficult under Graeme Souness – the Scot was sacked in January 1994 following a generally disastrous three-year spell in charge. The teenager with No23 on his back, who had been given his Liverpool debut by Souness, represented tangible hope for a brighter future, the face of an increasingly young and dynamic side taking shape under bootroom disciple Roy Evans, for whom the 1994-95 season was also a first full campaign in charge. The sense of renewal around Liverpool at that time extended to their ground, with Anfield’s capacity for the visit of Arsenal reduced to 30,017 as the Kop underwent renovation to become an all-seater stand.

That Fowler, who now works as an ambassador for Liverpool, was a locally-bred superstar only added to his appeal among the fans. Here, after all, was a lad from Toxteth who not only appeared capable of following in the footsteps of Hunt, Keegan, Dalglish and Rush, but also seemed wholly rooted. Who else would celebrate scoring the fastest Premier League hat-trick, and fastest anywhere in England since December 1987, by going “down the chippy that night, with some ribs thrown in as well as special fried rice”?

Given his age, Fowler’s appeal was felt particularly strongly among those who were growing up with him, a hero whom a generation of Kopites could not only worship but also relate to. As Neil Atkinson, presenter of The Anfield Wrap podcast, puts it: “Fowler is the moment when supporters around my age, 33, stop seeing Liverpool players as their collective dads. Those 80s men we grew up watching were moustachioed, certain, endlessly winning. Robbie was different. He was a roguish big brother. He’d get you into scrapes and he’d get you out of them. Less certain but so much more fun.

“And that hat-trick is one of his purest moments, the thing you’d love to do if only you were good. It’s pure playground, pure Fowler.”

There have been faster hat-tricks before and since – James Hayter notched one for Bournemouth against Wrexham in February 2004 in two minutes and 20 seconds – but no others on these shores came in such a high-profile match watched by millions and felt so much like the moment when a stellar talent burst into life. Fowler’s career may ultimately have gone on to be tinged with frustration, controversy and a sense of destiny unfulfilled, but 20 years ago, and in less time than it takes to hard boil an egg, he was great. More than that, he was God.