The action packed weekends beckon football fans across the globe with the Premier League on the cusp of resuming its 10-month long extravaganza in less than a week. While everyone loves to witness an incredible goal or a gravity-defying save, there is no match to watching a pass that splits up an opposition like a knife through hot butter, to present the team with a goal scoring opportunity.
In this segment, we bring you 5 players who are early contenders for the highest assist award in the forthcoming season.
#5 Christian Eriksen - Tottenham Hotspur
Although he might not get as much acclaim as his peers, we, for one, believe the diminutive Dane can be a menace for the opposing defenders as he goes about his duties, with defenders realising what has hit them only after the move has been completed.
An ever-present name in the Tottenham line-up, Eriksen has been his side’s leading chance creator ever since signing from Ajax and capped it up with a brilliant 2015-16 season, where he created a total of 114 chances, with 13 of them resulting in a goal. His consistency at creating chances has been the most impressive aspect of the 24-year old’s game and that was evident in the fact that he failed to create a single chance in just one of the 35 games he featured in the last season.
The London side faltered in the final stages of the season, eventually finishing 3rd in the league, a single point and position below their arch-rivals, Arsenal. However, Mauricio Pochettino is not a satisfied man and will be keen to launch another title bid in the upcoming season and Eriksen will be one of his most critical players with his creative instincts and goal scoring abilities.
In Harry Kane, Eriksen has the most prolific striker in England playing in front of him and will be hoping he can continue to play a key role in establishing the Englishman’s reputation as the best striker in England through the coming season.
#4 Paul Pogba - Manchester United
The man whose transfer to Manchester United broke the all-time record for a transfer fee, brings much-needed quality to the side’s midfield. Possessing an ability to turn a game on its head with his all round style of play, Pogba is expected to instantly bring the fear factor back at the Old Trafford.
The 23-year-old dynamic midfielder was the second most creative player at Juventus last season behind Paulo Dybala, having created 54 chances in 35 appearances.. For a player who plies his trade in the middle of the park, Pogba had a healthy chance creation statistic, averaging a goal scoring opportunity every 56 minutes and was duly rewarded for his efforts as he finished as the joint leader on the assists chart with 12 assists alongside Miralem Pjanic.
At Juventus, the 23-year-old formed an intimidating partnership with the Argentine Paulo Dybala and the Manchester United fans will hope he can reacclimitise to the English conditions and new teammates at the earliest.
With the likes of Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford forming the attacking unit at the club, Pogba will not be devoid of quality in front of him and he could add to his creative exploits of the last season.
However, it remains to be seen if Jose Mourinho would deploy the French superstar as a central midfielder or a defensive midfielder, a position that has been an area of concern for the club. While he thrived while playing as a box-to-box midfielder, recording 12 assists in the process, there is a slight chance that Mourinho will be forced to play him as a defensive midfielder given the deficiencies of the club in the mentioned position.
#3 Dimitri Payet - West Ham United
The French midfielder who carried his good Premier League form into the recently concluded Euros will need to play a pivotal role if West Ham are to better their performance during the last season and qualify for the 2017-18 of the Champions League.
Payet created 12 and scored 9 goals in the league last season, thus, directly contributing to close to 1/3rd of the goals scored by his side. The 29-year-old possesses a nimble set of feet, a deadly delivery, an incredible dribbling ability and can create chances when presented with the smallest of opportunities.
He is the second player on the list to have created 100 chances in the previous season (he created a total of 116 chances in 30 appearances), averaging a chance every 23 minutes, which is only marginally lower than the leading creator in the league Ozil.
Even though he acclimatised himself with English football pretty early last season, we expect his stock to rise even further in the coming season. If his exploits in the Euros with the French national team are anything to go by, West Ham could be serious contenders for a Champions League spot come the end of the season.
#2 Riyad Mahrez - Leicester City
Although the Algerian superstar has been linked with a move to Emirates during the course of the ongoing transfer window, it is becoming increasingly likely that he will have to spend at least one more season at the King Power Stadium. He set the League on fire, having formed a fine partnership with Englishman Jamie Vardy. His 12 assists and 17 goals played a crucial role in Leicester causing a huge upset and lifting the Premier League for the first time.
He moved to England as a rather unknown entity and has established himself as one of the players to watch out for with his creative instincts, dribbling ability and goal scoring record. He has been his side’s creative lynchpin ever since they returned to the Premier League in 2013, having clocked 44 chances in the 2014-15 season and following it up with an impressive 67 chances in the title winning season.
Possessing a low centre of balance and an impressive ability to thread a pass through a needle, Mahrez has proved to be a tricky customer to handle for defenders in the league.
In Jamie Vardy and the recently recruited Ahmed Musa, the club boasts of a lightning quick strike force who can complement the creative instincts of Mahrez and we believe the Algerian has a fair shot at being crowned the league’s most creative player in the upcoming season.
#1 Mesut Ozil - Arsenal
Number one on our list is last season’s leading assist provider, Mesut Ozil. The German has been his side’s creator-in-chief ever since he signed for the Gunners from Real Madrid. Given that there has been no influx of creative talent at the club, we expect Ozil to continue as the creative lynchpin of his side.
Arsenal’s all-time record signing had his best season at The Emirates last season, finding his teammates in critical areas on the pitch at will. He created a total of 144 chances during the 3036 minutes he was on the pitch, averaging a chance every 22 minutes.
He was duly rewarded for his efforts as he finished the season with 19 assists, failing to break the all-time record of former Gunner Thierry Henry by a solitary assist.
Having begun life in England on a rather inconsistent note, the former Real Madrid man has grown over the course of the last few seasons, forming an intimidating partnership with Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud. He has always been hailed for his ability to create time and space for his attacking peers in the box with creative passes and inch-perfect crosses.
However, the side has often been thin on attacking options and should Arsene Wenger bring in a formidable name like Lacazette, who would thrive with the creative quality around him, the side could be in contention for the Premier League title, a trophy that has not been added to their kitty in the last decade.
