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De Bruyne's delicately arced cross into the box for Erling Haaland to thunder past Southampton's Gavin Bazunu on Saturday was his 14th Premier League assist of the season and 100 assists in EPL in total.
This is the fifth season in which De Bruyne has provided ten or more Premier League assists, matching Ryan Giggs' return. Only Cesc Fabregas, who broke that barrier in six different seasons, can better De Bruyne.
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Fewest appearances to record 100 assists EPL:
| Player | Games needed to reach 100 assists | Total Premier League assists |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin De Bruyne | 237 | 100 |
| Cesc Fabregas | 293 | 111 |
| Ryan Giggs | 367 | 162 |
| Wayne Rooney | 445 | 103 |
| Frank Lampard | 559 | 102 |
However, not even the prodigious Spaniard can match De Bruyne for the speed with which he has amassed a century of assists.
De Bruyne needed just 237 games to bring up his ton, 56 fewer than Fabregas required.
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Ryan Giggs leads the competition for total assists - with a tally of 162 which De Bruyne may even struggle to match - but took 367 games to break three figures.
Wayne Rooney (445) and Frank Lampard (559) are the only other individuals to record as many as 100 assists since the formation of the Premier League.
While there is a recorded history of the top creator of every English top-flight goal since 1992, the statistic has only penetrated the public consciousness in the last decade. The stats company Opta had to recruit former England international Don Howe to officially define an assist in 1996 - which he judged to be "the final pass or pass-cum-shot which directly leads to a goal scored by the recipient of the ball".
Thierry Henry's astonishing haul of 20 assists in a single season was scarcely mentioned by the end of the 2002/03 campaign - although, perhaps Arsenal's failure to defend their Premier League title played a role.
De Bruyne is the only player in the history of the competition to have matched Henry's incredible tally.
Also Read: https://sportzpoint.com/football/most-goals-in-a-season-in-premier-league/
In 2019/20, City also ceded the title but De Bruyne scrawled his name alongside the Frenchman's with 20 assists, an incredible accomplishment which was duly recognised with the Premier League's official Playmaker award - a gong only created in 2018.
With nine games of the current campaign remaining, and a striker of Haaland's quality to aim at, De Bruyne may well come close to that lofty target once again.
This ends our article of 100 assists in EPL, for more articles, follow Sportz Point.