The Premier League most assists in a season record: Is it unbreakable?

Goals steal the headlines, but assists create the legacy. In a league built on speed, precision and relentless attacking football, setting up goals consistently across an entire season is one of the hardest feats to master.

Yet one Premier League record continues to loom over every creative genius who dares to chase it. Season after season, playmakers rise, numbers inflate, and tactical systems evolve but that single benchmark still stands tall, almost daring the modern game to try again.

So the question now feels unavoidable. Is the Premier League’s single-season assists record cursed and unbreakable?

1 – Thierry Henry (20 assists, 2002/03) – The benchmark

The gold standard. The record that refuses to fall.

In the 2002/03 season, Thierry Henry did something no one else had managed to do, record 20 Premier League assists.

What makes it even more absurd is that he achieved this while also being one of the league’s most prolific goalscorers. Henry wasn’t just creating, he was dominating every phase of Arsenal’s attack.

For years, this number felt untouchable. And even now, more than two decades later, it still sits at the top.

2 – Kevin de Bruyne (20 assists, 2019/20) – The equalizer

Seventeen years after Henry set the benchmark, Kevin De Bruyne finally caught it.

In the disrupted 2019/20 campaign, the Manchester City playmaker reached 20 assists in just 35 games, two fewer than Henry needed. The storyline was perfect: De Bruyne delivered his record-tying assist on the final day against Norwich City.

But despite all the modern advantages, higher possession, more chances, more attacking football, he could only match the record, not break it. The ceiling held firm.

3 – Mesut Ozil (19 assists, 2015/16) – The great collapse

No pursuit of the record was more painful than Mesut Özil’s.

By Christmas of the 2015/16 season, the Arsenal playmaker had already delivered 16 assists in his first 18 matches. History looked inevitable. The record felt dead and buried.

Then everything stopped. Özil managed just three assists in his final 17 games, finishing on 19, one agonising short of immortality. One of the most dramatic mid-season drop-offs the Premier League has ever seen.

4 – Mohamed Salah (18 assists, 2024/25) – The late season fumble

Like Ozil, Salah also came within touching distance in dramatic fashion.

He surged to 18 assists with six matches still to play in the 2024/25 campaign. Liverpool were flying, the chances kept coming, and the record was in real danger.

Then silence.

No assists in the final six games, despite multiple near-misses and brilliant creative moments. Another challenger fell at the final hurdle.

5 – Cesc Fabregas (18 assists, 2014/15) – Cut short by discipline

Fabregas’ 18-assist season was orchestrating at its finest.

Playing at the heart of Chelsea’s title-winning side, the Spaniard delivered chance after chance with surgical precision. But his bid for 20 was effectively ended by a red card in the penultimate game of the season, leaving him stranded on 18.

One suspension, and possibly one broken record, vanished instantly.

6 – Frank Lampard (18 assists, 2004/05) – Another mid-season fall-off

Many other players reached the 18 assist, mark with Kevin de Bruyne also doing it in 2016/17. However, he got two on the final day, so he was never close to break Henry’s record.

Frank Lampard, though, came just as close as Ozil and the others on this list, if not closer. Just look at the stats from his fantastic 2004/05 campaign, as per Transfermarkt.

He had 14 assists from the first 24 games of the season in the 2004/05 campaign when Chelsea won the Premier League at a canter. Unfortunately, he could only muster up four more from there on until the end of the season.