Best Premier League playmakers: Most assists & chances created records

The Premier League is home to some of the most creative players in world football.

Mohamed Salah finished the 2024/25 campaign with 18 assists, more than any other player. The Egyptian is expected to be up there once again in 2025/26, battling the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Bukayo Saka and Jacob Murphy.

• IN FULL: The 2024/25 Premier League Playmaker Award final standings

But when it comes to serving up chances and assists, where does Salah stand among the best Premier League playmakers in history?

With the help of Opta, we combed through the records to establish a definitive list of top 10s. Read on to find out who has the recorded the most assists and chances created in Premier League history, the most within a single season – and even the most within a single game.

Who has the most assists in Premier League history?

Most assists within a single Premier League season

In 2020, De Bruyne wrote his name in the history books by becoming just the second player to record 20 assists in a single campaign. The first was Thierry Henry, who did so during the 2002/03 campaign, albeit having played two extra games compared to De Bruyne. Funnily enough, neither player won the Premier League title in that season. Arsenal lost out to Manchester United while Man City fell behind Liverpool.

De Bruyne and Fabregas are also the only two players to record at least 15 assists in more than one Premier League campaign.

Most assists within a single Premier League game

We can stop going on about De Bruyne now because he doesn’t make this list. Fabregas gets yet another mention, though.

Just eight players have achieved the remarkable feat of setting up four goals within a single Premier League game, and no one has done it twice yet. Dennis Bergkamp was the first. His four assists came against Leicester in the 1998/99 season, and there must be something in the water at Arsenal’s training ground because three more of their players have hit four assists in a single game while representing the club.

Most chances created in Premier League history?

Most chances created within a single Premier League season

It’s no surprise to see Mesut Özil top the list here for the most chances created in a single Premier League campaign (representing Arsenal, yet again). The German was in top form as the Gunners finished second in the Premier League in 2015/16, creating 146 chances and recording 19 assists. The assist record really could have been his but for a bit of errant finishing from his forwards.

There are also the usual suspects in the rest of the top 10, but some may be surprised to see former Chelsea winger Florent Malouda in there with his 118 chances created in 2010/11.

Most chances created within a single Premier League game

Malouda’s name pops up again in the list for most chances created in a single game, and it turns out he really doesn’t like Birmingham. In December 2009, Malouda created 10 chances for Chelsea against Birmingham and almost a year later he went one better with 11.

However, once more Özil stands clear above the rest with 12 chances created in a 2-0 win for Arsenal over Sunderland towards the end of the 2016/17 Premier League campaign.

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