Kevin De Bruyne provided three assists at the weekend at Manchester City beat Leicester City, but four Arsenal players have gone one better.

De Bruyne’s hat-trick of assists matched Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s from the previous Saturday’s match against Everton.

It’s an achievement managed 53 times in Premier League history.

Neither player could add a fourth assist though, something only five players have ever done.

Funnily enough, all five have an Arsenal connection, and four managed it whilst playing for the club:

1. Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal)

vs Leicester City, February 1999

 

2. Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal)

vs Middlesbrough, January 2006

3. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

vs Blackburn, October 2009

4. Emmanuel Adebayor (Tottenham)

vs Newcastle United, February 2012

5. Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)

vs Wigan Athetic, May 2013

Arsene Wenger is under a lot of pressure at the moment, and perhaps deservedly so, given Arsenal’s league performances.

Still, it says something about Wenger that every player bar one who has ever managed four assists in one Premier League game did it under him. Especially considering that last player (Adebayor) did it after playing for the manager too.

It’s probably mostly a testament to the 68-year-old’s passing philosophy. Over the years, fans have often noted that Arsenal are just as likely to play another pass from a goalscoring position, rather than shoot.

Eventually, that’s likely to lead to one or two players racking up their assist count.

Hopefully it does again in the near future, because Arsenal could use the goals.