Can Bruno Fernandes really break the Premier League’s weirdest record?

The race for the most assists across a single Premier League season is weird and unpredictable, often influenced by factors outside the control of its competitors. It is also a record that has stood for more than 20 years, or since Thierry Henry notched his 20th assist of the 2002-03 season. Since then, only Kevin De Bruyne has matched Henry’s figure over 38 games, in 2019-20, but it has been threatened on an almost annual basis over the past two decades.

This year, the leading contender to break Henry and De Bruyne’s record is Bruno Fernandes, who has reached 16 assists with eight games of the season remaining, while surpassing David Beckham for the most from a Manchester United player in a single Premier League campaign. The captain is flying after returning to more advanced role under Michael Carrick, and the Portuguese’s form suggests Henry and De Bruyne’s assist record is within sight over the final weeks. But be warned.

Over the past few years, many players have been on the trajectory for the Premier League assist record, only to fall away as soon as they are tipped to challenge it. In fact, it has become fairly normal for one of the Premier League’s leading attackers to start the campaign by striking a rich vein of creative form. De Bruyne, in 2022, started the season with nine assists in nine matches.

Mohamed Salah reached nine in 15 in 2021. The year before, Harry Kane was 10 in 11. Go back further, and Mesut Ozil was 15 in 17 in 2015, Cesc Fabregas 13 in 18 in 2014.