On Sunday, Mesut Özil reached 50 Premier League assists with his set-piece delivery for Shkodran Mustafi, but how does that rank among the club’s best ever creative players?
By now you’ve probably heard that Özil reached that 50 league assists landmark quicker than anyone in the competition’s history. The German has long been known as the assist king in Europe, and he’s lived up to that title well in North London.
Let’s look at how far he needs to go to reach the club’s record total, by evaluating the current top five:
3Cesc Fabregas (70)
For much of his eight years with Arsenal Fabregas was the creative hub of the midfield.
He was blessed with an array of talented strikers in front of him, from Henry to van Persie, and he knew how to get the best out of them.
Like van Persie, Fabregas continued to improve on his tally with another Premier League club, Chelsea, and is now on 111 in total.
He also beat his best single season tally with his new club, managing 18 assists in 2015/16.
Stats:
- First Arsenal assist: For Freddie Ljungberg vs Spurs in a 5-4 win.
- Final Arsenal assist: For Robin van Persie vs Bolton Wanderers in a 2-1 defeat.
- Best assist tally: 17 (2007/08)
- Assists per game: 0.33