Kevin De Bruyne's gaudy assist totals raise a number of questions, and we have to wonder if the Manchester City star has ever considered whether the Premier League record would be his in a world where Jose Mourinho found better use for him at Chelsea.
De Bruyne's 11 Premier League assists this season are four more than his closest competitors — Arsenal's Bukayo Saka and Manchester United's Christian Eriksen — and bring his career total to 97. That puts him fifth all-time, two more than Dennis Bergkamp and 65 (?!) behind record holder Ryan Giggs.
The Belgian star, 31, joined Chelsea from Werder Bremen at the age of 22 and scored 425 goals in a half-season before being sold to Wolfsburg. Back in the Bundesliga, De Bruyne had six assists the rest of the way before scoring 21 goals the following season to earn a move to Manchester City.
He's since won the nascent Premier League Playmaker of the Season Award twice, including a 20-assist season in 2019-20, and he's on track to make it three in a row. Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, and Eden Hazard have also won the award, which is only five years old.
De Bruyne also led the Premier League in assists in 2016-17, the year before the league but a name on the honor.His statistics indicate that there is more to come, as 'KDB' creates a whopping 3.61 chances per 90 minutes. De Bruyne is back taunting those who dare to chase him in terms of goal setting after a season in which he scored 15 times and assisted eight times (Some guy named Erling Haaland is helping...).
Take a look at De Bruyne's impressive stats, then keep reading to find out who is chasing him in a list of Premier League assist leaders for the 2022-23 season.
Premier League 2022-23 Assist Leaders
Kevin De Bruyne, Man City — 11 Bukayo Saka, Arsenal — 7 Christian Eriksen, Manchester United — 7 Bernardo Silva, Man City — 5 Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham Hotspur — 5 Alex Iwobi, Everton — 5 Andy Robertson, Liverpool — 5 Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal — 5 Martin Odegaard, Arsenal — 5 Ivan Perisic, Tottenham Hotspur — 5 Andreas Pereira, Fulham
Solly March, Brighton and Hove Albion — 4
Manchester City, Rodri — 4
Douglas Luiz, Aston Villa — 4
Manchester United — Bruno Fernandes — 4
Newcastle is 90 minutes away from the League Cup final after defeating Southampton 1-0 in the first leg of their semifinal at St. Mary's Stadium on Tuesday.
The second leg will be held at St. James' Park one week later, on Tuesday, January 31. Southampton will face Blackpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday, while Newcastle will rest after losing to Sheffield Wednesday in the third round.
The first leg of the second semifinal, between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, is scheduled for Wednesday.
Newcastle finally broke through in the 73rd minute when Alexander Isak turned and raced away from Duje Caleta-Car, who was later sent off in the 86th minute, before cutting the ball back toward the top of the six-yard box for the late-arriving Joelinton. The Brazilian hammered the ball past Gavin Bazunu, sending the Geordie faithful behind the goal into rapturous celebrations as they dream of a first major cup final appearance since the 1998-99 FA Cup (first League Cup final appearance since 1976), when they were defeated by treble-winning Manchester United.
Southampton were briefly level less than a minute after the restart when Adam Armstrong got the final touch in a goal-mouth scramble, but video review revealed that the ball had come off Armstrong's hand and then into the goal.
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