The Nine Players With Most Assists in a Single Premier League Season

It wasn’t until the 1994 World Cup in the United States when the “assist” statistic was popularized in world soccer.

Before that, it was tough to quantify the extent of one’s creative brilliance, with goalscorers enjoying much of the limelight. Many of the all-time great creators, like Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, were reliable goalscorers, too, and perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that their careers weren’t reduced to numbers as some contemporary stars’ are.

While some have argued that we’ve grown to become a little too "obsessed" with a supposedly superfluous statistic, the importance of setting a teammate up to score cannot be overlooked. Goals are the be all and end all in this sport, after all.

Some of soccer’s finest technicians and playmakers have stumbled their way onto English shores since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, but the competition’s single-season assist record has emerged as a mightily tough one to break since the bar was set at 20 in 2003.

Here are the players with the most Premier League assists in one season.

9. Cesc Fàbregas—17 (2007–08)

La Masia graduate Cesc Fàbregas emerged as Arsenal’s next great hope at a time when the club were moving into its then-state of the art new home.

A silky Spanish playmaker with dynamism in abundance at the start of his career, Fàbregas emerged as Arsenal’s creative heartbeat in a world without Thierry Henry and co.

Arsenal’s No. 4 came of age for the Gunners the season after Henry’s switch to Barcelona, notching an impressive 17 league assists as Arsène Wenger’s side seemed destined for glory.

They ended up four points adrift of champions Manchester United in third, with Fàbregas’s contributions consistent throughout.

8. Cesc Fàbregas—18 (2014–15)

Cèsc Fabregas — Fabregas developed into a deep-lying midfielder. | Mark Leech/Mark Leech Sports Photography/Getty Images

Seven years on from his 2007–08 heroics, Fàbregas returned to the Premier League via Barcelona, joining Arsenal’s London rivals Chelsea.

Some supporters still haven’t forgiven the midfielder they once cherished and called their own, with his success in west London allowing the resentment to fester.

The Fàbregas that rocked up at Stamford Bridge was much different from the iteration that sparkled under Wenger, with José Mourinho and Antonio Conte exploiting the midfielder’s passing range from deep.

The tone was set on Matchday 1, when Fàbregas produced one of the all-time great Premier League assists for André Schürrle at Burnley. That was the first of 18 he’d notch during his comeback campaign on English shores.

7. Kevin De Bruyne—18 (2016–17)

Only Ryan Giggs has more Premier League assists in the history of the competition than Kevin De Bruyne (117), who was handed a second bite of the English top flight after failing to garner the trust of Mourinho at Chelsea.

A German excursion with Wolfsburg seemingly proved to be the making of De Bruyne, who signed for Manchester City in 2015.

“It takes a special footballer to improve our squad and I have no doubt that Kevin is certainly one of those,” Manuel Pellegrini said upon the Belgian’s arrival, but De Bruyne’s success in Manchester wasn’t immediate.

It’d take a change of manager for the destructive creator to manifest his most potent form, with Pep Guardiola quickly extracting the best out of De Bruyne.

In Guardiola’s first season in charge, a relatively disappointing one for the Cityzens, De Bruyne notched 18 assists, including five during the final four games of the season to ensure his side qualified for the Champions League.

6. Frank Lampard—18 (2004–05)

Primarily revered for his goalscoring, Frank Lampard was also an elite playmaker at the start of Mourinho’s glorious first Chelsea tenure.

Empowered by the new manager’s belief in him, Lampard embarked on one of the great Premier League campaigns by a midfielder in 2004–05, as the Blues lifted the title for the first time since 1955.

Lampard eased himself into the season, functioning as a critical cog in Mourinho’s novel emphasis on transitions, but couldn’t stop once he got going in the autumn.

Games rarely went by when the midfielder didn’t contribute in the final third, and Chelsea memorably wrapped up the title on the final day with a pair of Lampard goals.

It was the second most productive season of his glittering career.

5. Mohamed Salah—18 (2024–25)

Mohamed Salah broke records at an unrelenting rate in 2024–25, as Liverpool claimed their second Premier League title off the back of the Egyptian’s historic campaign.

Salah was unable to break the single-season assist record, but he did set a new bar for Premier League goal contributions (47). He took home the Golden Boot with 29 games, as well as the Playmaker of the Year award with 18 assists.

Offered the freedom by Arne Slot to “cheat” out of possession, which left him in dangerous positions to take advantage of errant defensive positioning on the counter, Salah delivered—and some—for the Reds.

4. Mesut Özil—19 (2015–16)

There simply must be an unimpeachable forcefield surrounding Henry’s 20-assist record, because it was almost impossible for Mesut Özil not to set a new high in 2015–16.

The classy German maestro notched 16 assists through 18 games, yet still fell short of 20. Özil assisted just thrice during the second half of the season,

Arsenal’s No. 10 was a master of the through-ball, but he was also able to have some joy from set pieces, as well as cut-backs after entering the opposition’s box.

3. Bruno Fernandes—19* (2025–26)

Bruno Fernandes has given himself a great chance of finally breaching the 21-assist threshold. However, this is typically when the candidates flounder.

His 2025–26 season has been brought to life by Michael Carrick, having spent much of the campaign in pivot-midfield purgatory under Rúben Amorim, who was sacked at the start of the year.

Fernandes has relished the freedom Carrick has allowed him. Manchester United’s captain roams from a No. 10 position, often finding himself outside of the opponent’s defensive block on the touchline. He can create from any zone of the pitch.

Set pieces have been important for Fernandes. That won’t take the gloss off if he smashes the record, and it’d perhaps be fitting, given the Premier League’s current climate, that Man Utd’s No. 8 is the man to break such a long-standing record off the back of a pinpoint set-piece delivery.

* Season ongoing.

2. Kevin De Bruyne—20 (2019–20)

One of the finest De Bruyne seasons of his Premier League career, statistically speaking, failed to return Man City another league title.

The Cityzens, after going back-to-back in 2017–18 and 2018–19, were blown away by Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, offering barely any resistance as the Reds won the Premier League for the first time.

The season started promisingly enough for Guardiola’s side, and particularly De Bruyne, who had eight assists through seven games. However, a 3–2 defeat to Norwich City in September depicted their collective frailty, and even infrequent stumbles allowed the Reds to streak clear at the summit.

De Bruyne’s rapid start somewhat fizzled out, but assists in back-to-back games to close out the season meant he tied the record.

If only he weren’t an unused substitute against Bournemouth during City’s third from last game of the league campaign...

1. Thierry Henry—20 (2002–03)

While De Bruyne in 2019–20 hit 20 assists in fewer games than Henry, the Frenchman finished an utterly outstanding individual campaign with 24 Premier League goals, too.

Remarkably, Henry’s heroics failed to inspire Arsenal to back-to-back league titles, as Manchester United prevailed off the back of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s poaching prowess.

While Ruud was busy tapping in from short-range, Henry was dazzling the masses with extraordinary sequences of skill and craft. He won hearts and minds during his mightily successful Gunners career, and his 2002–03 season shan’t be forgotten by anyone of an Arsenal persuasion.

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