Assists rarely get the same love as goals, but that does not make them any less valuable to a team.
Since the Premier League started, we have seen many players show up with three assists in a single match, but only a few have ever taken it a step further and gone away with four.
Let’s take a look at them all.
The man who started this exclusive club was Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp, who had a creative champion class when his side beat Leicester 5-0 in early 1999.
A fantastic breakthrough for Nicolas Anelka got the fun started and was quickly followed by a nice one-two between the pair, and Bergkamp added his third assist in the match just before half time when he drove in the Leicester defense and the disk away to Ray Parlor finishes.
Three minutes after the break, Bergkamp got his last assist, with Parlor again the receiver. There was nothing special about this workout, but hey, everyone counts.
It was almost seven years before another Arsenal man, Jose Antonio Reyes, came and matched Bergkamp’s performance.
After a banging opener from Thierry Henry, Reyes took center stage. His corner is led home by Philippe Senderos just minutes later, before Reyes lined up Henry with a perfectly weighted ball.
Robert Pires and Gilberto Silva scored four and five, before Reyes reappeared with two more assists. We had another perfect pass for Henry for 6-0, before Reyes bundled the ball to Aleksandr Hleb to end the party.
Another Arsenal star on this list. This time it was Cesc Fabrega’s turn, one of the greatest playmakers in Premier League history.
The Spaniard had three assists with the interval, teehing up Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin with the kind of pin-point accuracy you would expect from Fabregas, and he put one on a plate for Theo Walcott later to make it four.
Fabregas was not happy with all the assists, but even got a wonderful half-volley goal in the middle of the second half, and he could easily have added a few more if luck had been on his side. One of the best shows of all time.
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A fantastic five against Newcastle!
? ️ #OnThisDay 2012 … #COYS pic.twitter.com/spJXMbQH4U
– Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) 11 February 2019
In 2012, it was former Arsenal man Emmanuel Adebayor who stole the show in Tottenham’s 5-0 can against Newcastle United.
He had two within six minutes, pinged some good crosses for Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Louis Saha, and he finished his draw in the 34th minute with a good start for Saha and a scratchy puck through for Niko Kranjcar.
Like Fabregas before him, Adebayor then turned his attention to getting his own goal and flicked home a lavish volley to crown an outstanding performance.
Cazorla was magical against Wigan / Shaun Botterill / Getty Images
We go back to Arsenal. What made Santi Cazorla’s four assist moves so special is the variation with which he created these goals.
We had a right-footed corner that found Lukas Podolski in the first half, before three assists in just eight other half-minutes – one with his right foot, one with his left and one with his head.
Just pure class from Cazorla, who put Wigan in the sword and confirmed relegation to the championship with this achievement.
A by-product of his 2020/21 style change, Harry Kane surprisingly flourished into an elite creator and got his own four-assist move just two games into the season.
It was Son Heung-min who stole the headlines after scoring four goals, but all were set up by Kane. We had two perfect crosses and two accurate cross balls, and Son lost them all.
Kane, who also scored his own goal late in the match, then went on to run five straight games with at least one assist and ended the campaign as the Premier League’s top creator.
Paul Pogba needed just 68 minutes of the 2021/22 season to get four assists.
The first three goals in Manchester United’s 5-1 victory over Leeds were all set by Pogba. The Frenchman started with a lovely girl to Bruno Fernandes, then went to a long ball for Mason Greenwood and made it three by hitting Fernandes again.
After Fernandes completed his hat-trick, Pogba added his fourth assist with a cut for the accelerating Fred to seal the deal.
