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:
Robin van Persie (45)
Not exactly the most popular figure on this list, but eight seasons with Arsenal helped the Dutchman to fifth place in the standings.
In total he managed 53 Premier League assists, but the last eight were after his move to rivals Manchester United.
The striker was better known for his goalscoring, but an average of between five and six assists a season didn’t do anything to hurt his reputation.
The only problem was that Arsenal became reliant on his output, and his many injuries amplified that issue.
Özil passed the Dutchman’s total in November.
Stats:
- First Arsenal assist: For Jose Antonio Reyes vs Middlesbrough in a 2-1 defeat.
- Final Arsenal assist: For Laurent Koscielny vs West Brom in a 3-2 win.
- Best assist tally: 10 (2008/09)
- Assists per game: 0.23
Mesut Özil (50)
Arsenal’s top assist-provider of the players still with the club, Özil recently signed a new three-and-a-half year deal to stay a little longer.
That should hopefully be more than enough time to climb the rankings a bit more.
The German has been providing assists since day one with his current side, when he set up Giroud after just 11 minutes.
He narrowly missed out on the all-time assists record in 2015/16, but with Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ahead of him next season, maybe he can try again.
Stats:
- First Arsenal assist: For Olivier Giroud vs Sunderland in a 3-1 win.
- Final Arsenal assist (so far): For Shkodran Mustafi vs Watford in a 3-0 win.
- Best assist tally (so far): 19 (2015/16)
- Assists per game: 0.35
Cesc 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
Thierry Henry (74)
Arsenal’s record goalscorer is also their second highest Premier League assist-provider.
Henry holds that record for assists in a single season that Özil came so close to breaking a couple of seasons ago.
It says a lot about his quality that he could score such a massive number of goals for the club and still rack up so many assists at the same time.
Just like Fabregas and van Persie, Henry spent eight seasons at the club. Clearly he made better use of his time though, out-assisting and outscoring both.
More importantly, he helped the team to a couple of Premier League titles, as well as three FA Cups (although he didn’t play in the final for the third).
Stats:
- First Arsenal assist: For Lee Dixon vs Leicester City in a 3-0 win.
- Final Arsenal assist: For Kolo Toure vs Blackburn Rovers in a 2-0 win.
- Best assist tally: 20 (2002/03)
- Assists per game: 0.29
Dennis Bergkamp (94)
At the top of the Arsenal list, Dennis Bergkamp has the fifth most Premier League assists of all time, only behind Ryan Giggs, Cesc Fabregas, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.
He spent 11 years with the club before eventually retiring after the stadium move.
Now, he has a statue standing outside the ground.
Bergkamp’s vision was unrivalled, and Thierry Henry said it best back in 2006, stating: “For me, I have always said Dennis Bergkamp will remain the best partner I have ever had – he is a dream for a striker.”
Özil certainly has his work cut out to ever reach the Dutchman’s total, he’d probably also have to stay until retirement to manage it. You never know though.
Stats:
- First Arsenal assist: For Ian Wright vs Everton in a 2-0 win.
- Final Arsenal assist: For Robert Pires vs West Bromwich Albion in a 3-1 win.
- Best assist tally: 13 (1998/99)
- Assists per game: 0.30