Table of Contents
Which players have
assisted the most goals in a Premier
League season? Mohamed Salah came close to breaking the record
in 2024-25, but ultimately fell short.
Who Has
the Most Premier League Assists in a Single Season?
- 20 – Kevin De Bruyne in 2019-20
- 20 – Thierry Henry in 2002-03
- 19 – Mesut Özil in 2015-16
- 18 – Mohamed Salah in 2024-25
- 18 – Frank Lampard in 2004-05
- 18 – Kevin De Bruyne in 2016-17
- 18 – Cesc Fàbregas in 2014-15
- 17 – Cesc Fàbregas in 2007-08
- 16 – Eric Cantona in 1992-93
- 16 – Kevin De Bruyne in 2017-18
- 16 – Kevin De Bruyne in 2022-23
Goalscorers get so much of the glory, but in recent years it
feels as though those who assist them have been getting more and
more appreciation.
Yes, sometimes an assist can be as simple as rolling the ball
two yards to someone on the halfway line who beats five men and
bends one in from distance, but most of the time, it is a
well-placed ball that provides a teammate with a golden opportunity
to find the net.
We’ve already listed those who have racked up the most assists
overall in Premier League history, but we also wanted to look
at players who have done so the most in a single campaign.
Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne share the record with 20
assists, but that looked under threat in 2024-25.
With six games remaining, Mohamed Salah had tallied on 18
assists for Liverpool in the 2024-25 season, but the Egyptian
failed to add anymore to overtake or even match De Bruyne and
Henry.
20 –
Kevin De Bruyne (2019-20)
In 2019-20, Kevin
De Bruyne finally ended a 17-year wait for someone to equal
Thierry Henry’s phenomenal tally of 20 Premier League assists in
2002-03.
De Bruyne reached his total from 35 games, two fewer than Henry,
and recorded at least seven more assists than any other player in
the division that season, ahead of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (13) in second.
The former Manchester City maestro was in tremendous form that
season, despite the fact Pep Guardiola’s men fell well short in the
Premier League title race, finishing 18 points behind champions
Liverpool.
De Bruyne boasts four of the 11 best Premier League campaigns
for assists, also managing 18 in 2016-17, and 16 in both the
2017-18 and 2022-23 seasons. He sits in second place in the
competition’s all-time assist list, behind only Ryan Giggs.
20 – Thierry Henry (2002-03)
While De Bruyne’s overall output in 2019-20 was excellent, with
13 goals to add to his 20 assists, it wasn’t as impressive as
Henry’s 2002-03 campaign, when the French forward added 24 goals to
his 20 assists.
His 44 goal involvements for Arsenal that season is the joint
most ever by a player in a 38-game Premier League campaign.
Henry’s total included a hat-trick of assists in Arsenal’s 4-0
win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in May 2003, while he
recorded two assists in four other matches.
19 – Mesut
Özil (2015-16)
Another Arsenal player, Mesut Özil, led the way for assists in
2015-16, with 19 in 35 top-flight appearances.
Sixteen of these came in his first 18 games of that season, with
the German international midfielder set to absolutely smash Henry’s
previous record of 20. But the final 17 appearances that campaign
only yielded three more assists, including one on the final day in
a 4-0 win over Aston Villa.
Özil’s 2015-16 tally was two more than he ever managed in a
season at La Liga club Real Madrid, with his 17 passes leading to
goals in 2010-11 and 2011-12 the best he managed in Spain.
18 – Mohamed
Salah (2024-25)
Mohamed Salah moved to 18 assists for Liverpool in the 2024-25
Premier League season with his low cross for Luis Díaz’s opener
against West Ham United on 13 April 2025. However, he failed to add
any more in the Reds’ final six games of the campaign and ended two
short of the seasonal record in the competition.
The Egyptian, who has signed a new contract at the club to
continue his Premier League career past 2024-25, enjoyed his best
ever season for assists in the competition. His previous highest
tally in a campaign came in 2021-22 when he set up 13 for his
teammates.
18
– Cesc Fàbregas (2014-15)
While at Arsenal in 2007-08, Cesc Fàbregas recorded an
impressive 17 assists. It will have been difficult for Gunners fans
to see their former midfielder end up at Chelsea via Barcelona
after that, but even more so when he thrived at Stamford
Bridge.
In the 2014-15 season, Fàbregas – who ranks third for
all-time assists in the Premier League with 111 – went one better
than that previous best campaign at Arsenal and notched 18 assists
for the Blues, and from just 34 league games too.
Chelsea cruised to the title that season, and the Spain
international eased to the top of the charts for most assists,
finishing seven ahead of the player with the next most, another
Spanish Arsenal midfielder in Santi Cazorla (11).
18
– Kevin De Bruyne (2016-17)
As with the 2019-20 season, the De Bruyne thrived despite the
team around him not doing so well.
In Guardiola’s first campaign in England, Man City didn’t come
close to challenging for the title, won by De Bruyne’s former club
Chelsea by a distance, but the player himself still managed 18
assists in total for his teammates in 36 appearances.
That was three more than Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen, but as
we’ve already seen, De Bruyne would go two better three seasons
later.
18
– Frank Lampard (2004-05)
Where there are Premier League records, Frank Lampard’s name is
not usually far away.
The former West Ham, Chelsea and Man City midfielder is fifth in
the all-time list for Premier League assists, and the 2004-05
campaign was his most productive.
Chelsea eased to the title under José Mourinho in his first
season at Stamford Bridge, and Lampard was a big part of that,
notching 13 goals to go with his 18 assists.
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