Thierry Henry scored 417 goals in his career, but the former Arsenal, Barcelona and France forward has increasingly spoken of his other contribution: assists.
He set the record for Premier League assists in a single season (20) in the 2002-03 campaign. There was not much focus on the record at the time, but it still stands 22 years later, albeit now as a joint record with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, who matched it in 2019-20.
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In December, two-time Premier League winner Henry told Sky Sports: “When you look at my career, if you see my goals, you saw rage. You rarely saw me smiling. Look at my assists; I smile. I prefer an assist than a goal, and no goalscorer will tell you that.”
This season, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka reached 10 assists by November, just one off his best tally for a league season. It looked like he could threaten the record before he suffered a hamstring injury in December. He remains joint second in the Premier League assists ranking this season with 10, alongside Fulham’s Antonee Robinson, but is still out injured.
However, one player still has a very good chance of beating the record: Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. He has started every league match for Liverpool this season and is having his best-ever Premier League campaign when it comes to assists. He’s on 15, with 12 games to go.
Could Salah be the one to take the crown from Henry and De Bruyne?
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Aside from De Bruyne, Mesut Ozil is the only other player who has put the record under threat before.
The former Arsenal midfielder made 19 assists in 2015-16. He recorded 16 assists by the end of 2015, but provided just three in the second half of that season when Olivier Giroud went on a 14-game scoreless run (in nine starts).
De Bruyne’s trajectory was more gradual. He had hit 10 assists by matchday 18 in December 2019 but, despite joking about going for Henry’s record, could only match it on the final day of the 2019-20 season.
Henry’s assists were much more loaded towards the end of the season. He did not reach 10 league assists until matchday 28 in February 2003. Seven of his 20 assists came in the final five games.
Saka started his run at the record early in the season. He became the fourth-fastest player to reach 10 Premier League assists when he set up Leandro Trossard against West Ham United on matchday 13 in November last year.
As well as still ranking second in the league for assists, the England winger is still ranked first for big chances created (19) after two months out. Salah and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer are joint-second with 18 big chances created each, but have both started every league game for their clubs, playing around 1,000 more minutes than Saka this term.
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By matchday 11, Salah had just six league assists. The 32-year-old hit the 10- (and 11-) assist mark on December’s matchday 17. Between matchday 13 and matchday 19, he produced seven assists in six matches. He then went five league games without an assist before finding Alexis Mac Allister against Everton in the Merseyside derby. His next assist after that was to Trent Alexander-Arnold away to Aston Villa this week.
There’s some useful context to Henry’s late spurt. He made five assists in the final two games of the 2002-03 season, when the league had been lost after a 3-2 home defeat to Leeds United. He got three final-day assists for Freddie Ljungberg away to Sunderland.
A striker who liked to drift, there was variety in the method of his assists and the recipients. Nine of his open-play assists came from outside the box, while another nine were from inside. Two were corners. Although Robert Pires (five) and Ljungberg (four) were the most common beneficiaries, Henry’s first seven assists were all for different players.
The Frenchman’s tendency to drift wide could be seen in four of his five assists for Pires coming from the left channel. By comparison, three of his four assists for Ljungberg came centrally as the Sweden winger would make darting out-to-in support runs.
Those subtle differences speak to a point Henry made about Arsene Wenger on CBS Sports in February 2023.
“Arsene told me, ‘Ask yourself the right questions’,” Henry said. “When I was a striker, I used to complain about everything, like, ‘He doesn’t give me the ball’. The boss said, ‘Do you think Dennis Bergkamp can give you the ball the same way Freddie Ljungberg does?’
“With Dennis, I knew I could move however I wanted to move. Robert Pires likes a one-two, so I need to come short with him. Freddie Ljungberg, I need to be in his path because if not, he will not see me.”
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That thought process can be seen in the types of passes Henry gave Pires compared to Ljungberg, playing to their respective strengths.
Another element of the Arsenal legend’s record-setting needs recognition. He claimed multiple assists in five separate games, creating two goals in four matches and three goals in one. Ozil and De Bruyne only managed three multiple-assist matches (two assists on each occasion).
Saka did so twice before his injury, claiming two assists both times.
Meanwhile, Salah has equalled Ozil and De Bruyne’s tally of three multiple-assist matches, with two assists in each. He still has 12 games to better that.
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Henry’s record may officially be a joint one with De Bruyne, but the Belgium midfielder does not feel that should be the case.
After his final assist of the 2019-20 season, he said: “I’ve got two more. You guys took two away from me, I’m still claiming that one. For me, I was already above (the record).
“It is what it is. I need my team-mates, because obviously I’m helping them creating to score. If they score, then I will get it. It’s nice to have, and it’s nice to have it with Thierry.”
The two assists on De Bruyne’s claims sheet were both for Raheem Sterling goals against Arsenal.
The first was a low cross that flicked off Calum Chambers en route to Sterling at the Emirates in December 2019 — the game before Mikel Arteta was appointed head coach.
The second was in June 2020, as his deep pass in behind for the winger bounced off David Luiz’s thigh, allowing Sterling to volley in.
The latter pass was more typical of the assists that De Bruyne started to make around this time, with whipped crosses from the right to the back post becoming a theme of his.
Eleven of his assists that season came from the right, and nine were whipped across in that fashion.
Unsurprisingly, Sergio Aguero was the player De Bruyne assisted most in that season (six times). Sterling would have been level if those claims against Arsenal counted, but is next best on four. After them, Gabriel Jesus (three) and David Silva (two) are the only other players the midfielder assisted more than once in the league that season.
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Even if De Bruyne did not officially beat Henry’s record, he is still the one to beat when he comes to assists. He ranks second in the Premier League for all-time assists, with 118. The 33-year-old sits behind only Ryan Giggs, who made 162 assists in 22 Premier League seasons. Henry is 14th in the ranking with 74.
Salah’s recent surge has put him 10th with 84. James Milner’s 89 is his next target.
In November, Salah spoke to Liverpool’s The Reds Roundtable about advice from Wenger: “He (Wenger) said, ‘The very, very good player is always focused on the game, even if he doesn’t have the momentum. He stays in the game until the last whistle.”
Despite that, just two of his assists have come in the last 10 minutes of matches. Eight have come in the 15 minutes before and after half-time, and nine have been openers or equalisers.
Playing out wide, he may not have the same range of assists as Henry, but Arne Slot knows how to get Salah in dangerous areas.
Salah is having more touches out wide and in the right-hand channel inside the box this season compared to last. That has prompted two trends.
The first has been crosses from deeper areas, which provided assists against Chelsea, Fulham and Everton for Curtis Jones, Cody Gakpo and Mac Allister respectively.
Liverpool’s attacks started on the left on both occasions, so when Salah was receiving the ball he was doing so with time and space. Left-backs not engaging put him in charge, as seen below for his assist against Chelsea…
The other theme has been Liverpool playing quick, long passes in behind for Salah, as he has received more progressive passes than any player in the league (298).
Rather than allowing defences to reorganise with slower build-up play, one pass gets Salah into a position where he can impact the game.
In their opening-day win over Ipswich Town, Trent Alexander-Arnold fizzed a pass inside the Ipswich left-back. A fairly easy square ball to Diogo Jota was Salah’s first assist.
But other passes in behind have been different. They have come from more central areas, with Salah picking up the ball much wider.
With left-backs scared to engage him, he takes his time, allowing Jones and Gakpo to make runs from deep before deciding which space to zip the ball into. Below is an example of his assist for Gakpo against Manchester City…
Even if his nutmegged assist against West Ham was slightly different, the start of the build-up was the same. Mac Allister played the long pass for Salah, who was offside and let the ball run for Luis Diaz. Diaz then found Salah inside the box where his touch tricked Konstantinos Mavropanos before the forward poked the ball to Gakpo.
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Salah’s output this season has been outstanding. He has become the first player to score and assist at least 15 goals each in a single Premier League season since Eden Hazard in 2018-19 (16 goals and 15 assists).
Salah’s 24 goals this term make him the league’s top scorer and have taken him to 181 in the Premier League in total, making him the division’s sixth top scorer of all time, behind Alan Shearer (260), Harry Kane (213), Wayne Rooney (208), Andy Cole (187) and Aguero (184). He has four more goals than seventh-placed Frank Lampard and six more than eighth-placed Henry.
Now, as Liverpool chase a second Premier League title, the forward is in prime position to take Henry and De Bruyne’s season assists record.
Data graphics by Mark Carey.
(Top photo: Mohamed Salah by Carl Recine via Getty Images)
