Who led the Premier League in assists every season since 2002-03?

Henry is known as one of the best goalscorers of all-time, and that is true. In fact, in 2002-03 he finished second in goals with 24. The thing is, the French legend was also dishing out assists with gusto that season. Henry paired his 24 goals with 20 assists, and players tallying 20 assists in a Premier League season is rare. In fact, Ryan Giggs was second, and he had 10 assists.

This was the season Arsenal was the Invincibles, and Henry scored 30 goals. Meanwhile, Leicester City got relegated, but there was one silver lining. Izzet played several seasons in the Leicester midfield, and in his final season with the club he led the Premier League with 14 assists. He would then move to Birmingham City where he would see his career derailed, and ended, by injury.

English footballing legend and Chelsea superstar Lampard had himself quite the campaign in 2004-05. Two players finished in the top five in both goals and assists this season. One, naturally, was Henry with 25 goals and 14 assists. The other, as you’ve likely deduced, is Lampard. He scored 13 goals, but paired those with 18 assists. For a midfielder, that’s remarkable production.

In his second season with Chelsea, Drogba came into his own as a key part of the club, which is a role he would maintain for many years. He had 12 goals, what you expect from a forward, but he also doled out 11 assists. This was a down season for assists, as only two players — Drogba and Arsenal's Jose Antonio Reyes — hit double digits.

This season, Drogba hit 20 goals to lead the Premier League. Meanwhile, we have our first season with a tie atop the assist charts. Rooney is, of course, known as one of the best strikers in Premier League history, whereas Fabregas was one of the best playmaking midfielders of his era. And yet, they both had 11 assists in 2006-07. One of these players will appear again on this list. You can probably guess which one.

You didn’t have to wait long to find out! Fabregas is our first repeat assist champ, and also did it back-to-back for good measure. Patrolling Arsenal’s midfield, the Spanish international kicked things up a notch. He had 17 assists, a nice uptick following a couple seasons with lackluster numbers leading the pack.

The next year, Lampard joined Fabregas as having multiple assist titles. This is also another tie, but it is also our final tie. Football fans are okay with draws, but some of you are still probably happy a true champ emerged in all future seasons. Alas, this is also our least robust season to date. Both Lampard and van Persie only had 10 assists, barely eking into double digits. Lampard did have 12 goals as well.

We have ourselves a three-timer! There’s a reason why Lampard is considered one of the best midfielders to ever do it. Two Chelsea players had incredible seasons. Drogba led the Premier League with a whopping 29 goals, but he also added 10 assists. On the flip side, Lampard led the league with 14 assists, but added 22 goals of his own. As a midfielder!

Nani gets overlooked sometimes in terms of his quality as a player, and the overall quality of his career. He had over 100 caps with Portugal, and over 150 with Manchester United. In one of those seasons with United, he led the Premier League in assists. Seven different players managed double-digit assists this year, but Nani paced the way with 14.

At this point, Manchester City has worked its way into the mix, so we know what era of the Premier League we have now entered. Sergio Aguero had 23 goals and Edin Dzeko had 14 for City, but somebody was getting them the ball. Silva was the one pulling the strings for the club, picking up 15 assists in the process.

Here’s something new: a player edging out one of his teammates for the assist title. Eden Hazard had 11 assists for Chelsea, but he was pipped by a fellow Blue. Mata had 12 assists in 2012-13 to lead the league. By the way, Mata and Hazard were followed by two Arsenal players, so the top assist guys were really concentrated in London this season.

Before the arrival of Jurgen Klopp, this was Liverpool’s best shot at winning the Premier League. Somewhat surprisingly, this is the only time in these twenty-some seasons Gerrard led the league in assists. He had 13 of them, but the guy who finished in second stands out a bit more. Luis Suarez, Gerrard’s teammate, had 12 assists, but he also led the Premier League with 31 goals. What a campaign.

After a few seasons with Barcelona, Fabregas returned to the Premier League, but not with Arsenal. No, instead he jumped ship to fellow London club Chelsea. Right out of the gate, Fabregas showed he still had it. His 18 assists were comfortably the highest in the league. Have we forgotten just how good the Spanish midfielder was?

Leicester City famously won the Premier League title as the only true “Cinderella” to ever do it, but no Leicester player led the league in goals or assists. Harry Kane potted the most goals, and one need not leave North London to find the top assist maker. That would be Arsenal’s Ozil, who picked up 19 assists to get oh-so-close to 20.

Once upon a time, Chelsea gave up on Kevin de Bruyne and he went to Wolfsburg to ply his trade. Manchester City took a shot on him, and the rest is history. In his second campaign back in England, the Belgian midfielder picked up 17 assists. Fabregas had 12 for Chelsea, but that doesn’t mean the club couldn’t have used de Bruyne.

Two remarkable statistical anomalies happened this season. One: Two players, Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane, hit the 30-goal mark. Two: The top-four players in assists all played for the same club. That’s right, Manchester City had spots one-through-four on the assist chart. De Bruyne was number one, though, with 16 helpers.

There was a three-way tie atop the goal-scoring chart in the 2018-19 season, but the assist title belonged to one man. It was a last hurrah for Hazard in a couple ways. One, this was his last season with Chelsea before he left for Real Madrid. Two, it was the last time he would be healthy, as his time at Real Madrid was pretty brutal. This year for Chelsea, though, Hazard stayed healthy (for the most part) and tallied 15 assists.

Well, de Bruyne sure didn’t waste time establishing himself as the best passer of his generation. He joined the three-timers club in only five seasons of Premier League action. Not only that, but the Belgian entered rarified air. That’s right, he had 20 assists.

You ever heard the story about how Wilt Chamberlain, a player renowned for scoring and rebounding, decided he wanted to lead the NBA in assists, and then he did? Maybe that’s what Kane was thinking this season. One of the best goalscorers England has ever produced, Kane went and led the Premier League with 14 assists this year. Oh, and he also led the Premier League with 23 goals.

This marks back-to-back seasons where the top assist man also led the league in goals. However, Salah did tie Son Heung-Min for the goals title with 23. On top of that, though, the man Liverpool fans call “The Egyptian King” had 13 assists. As an attacking winger, it’s a little less surprising to see Salah do the double than Kane — but still impressive, of course.

Did Erling Haaland make things easier on de Bruyne? Or did de Bruyne make things easier on Haaland? While the big Norwegian striker had a whopping 36 goals, de Bruyne was out there earning his fourth assists title. He picked up 16 of them, and in the process put himself in rarified air as a playmaker.

Passing must have been fashionable, as a ton of guys had double-digit assists in the 2023-24 season. Most of them topped out at 10, though. Cole Palmer had 11 to claim the second-place spot. Watkins, meanwhile, led the way. The Aston Villa man had 13 assists. By the way, those went along with 19 goals. Quite the campaign for Watkins, who then earned a spot, and a role, for England at Euro 2024.