Stats: Mesut Ozil is the assist king of the Premier League; best ever in the history
Mesut Ozil is possibly one of the few players in the Premier League who loves assists more than goals and going by how he's fared in his last three season, he's now the very best the Premier League has ever had.
Ozil joined Arsenal in 2013 from Real Madrid for a club record fee and has soon gone on to become one of the key players in the first-team – an undroppable. And if you have a look at the kind of numbers he's raking up, it's no surprise why Arsene Wenger wants him in every game throughout the 90 minutes.
The German has so far played 89 league games for the Gunners in which time he's assisted an incredible 33 goals – around 0.37 assists per match. And that number when compared to some of the other players in the Premier League who have played more than 50 games, is a step above even some of the biggest legends.
In second place, behind the Arsenal man, is Manchester United legend Eric Cantona who assisted 0.36 goals per game for Sir Alex Ferguson and in third is former Arsenal and current Chelsea star, Cesc Fabregas – the man Mesut Ozil was brought in to replace.
Fabregas averages around 0.33 assists per game and is the third overall record 'assister' the Premier League has ever seen. But the Spaniard and Ozil aren't the only Arsenal representation in the top 10.
Legends Dennis Bergkamp and Theirry Henry also make it to the list as well as short-term superstar Jose Antonio Reyes. Bergkamp averaged around 0.30 assists per game and is sixth on the list. Thierry Henry averaged 0.29 assists per game and is ninth on the list.
But the surprise is definitely Reyes – and we're not making this up – who also has 0.30 assists per game, same as Bergkamp, but is fourth on the list because of the lesser number of games he needed to hit said mark. Reyes is, surprisingly, above current Manchester City superstar David Silva.
Manchester United also have a strong representation on the list with Eric Cantona, as mentioned earlier, David Beckham and...brace yourselves....Nani! The Portuguese winger wasn't the biggest star Sir Alex Ferguson had but managed to get on the list in eighth place – two behind great Becks.
Here's the full table:
Name | Assists | Figures |
|---|---|---|
| Mesut Ozil | 0.37 assists per game | 89 games, 33 assists |
| Eric Cantona | 0.36 assists per game | 156 games, 56 assists |
| Cesc Fabregas | 0.33 assists per game | 287 games, 96 assists |
| Jose Antonio Reyes | 0.30 assists per game | 69 games, 21 assists |
| David Silva | 0.30 assists per game | 192 games, 58 assists |
| David Beckham | 0.30 assists per game | 265 games, 80 assists |
| Dennis Bergkamp | 0.30 assists per game | 315 games, 94 assists |
| Nani | 0.29 assists per game | 147 games, 43 assists |
| Thierry Henry | 0.29 assists per game | 258 games, 74 assists |
| Eyal Berkovic | 0.28 assists per game | 146 games, 41 assists |
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