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Yet another week of exhilarating Premier League action has passed us by and things continue to flourish in a rather unpredictable manner typical of the competition. The high-octane, thrill-a-minute nature of the Premier League has made it the most popular top-flight league in the world.
The Premier League is home to some of the best playmakers in the world
Football is usually played at a very high tempo in the English top division. Players have to toughen up and reach high levels of intensity from a physical standpoint if they are to perform well week in and week out. Part of that process is learning how to make intelligent decisions swiftly and executing them in a precise fashion.
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For this reason, Premier League playmakers stand out from the rest. Without further ado, let's take a look at the six players with the most assists in the 2021-22 Premier League season so far.
#6 Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea) - 3 assists
Mateo Kovacic has been a standout performer for Chelsea this new season. He has started six of the seven Premier League games so far and has done a good job at orchestrating play from deep. A brilliant slaloming run and threaded through-ball at the end of it for Romelu Lukaku against Aston Villa has been the pick of his three assists so far.
Kovacic's ball-carrying ability and awareness at the heart of midfield has enabled him to displace N'Golo Kante from the starting lineup. That almost seemed like an impossible task towards the end of last season when the Frenchman was going all guns blazing. Kovacic has three assists to his name so far.
#5 Michail Antonio (West Ham United) - 3 assists
Michail Antonio has been in sublime form in the opening stages of the 2021-22 Premier League season. The West Ham United striker has scored five goals and provided three assists in six appearances in the league so far this term.
Antonio has been a force to be reckoned with in the final third. He uses his physicality well. In addition to his poaching instincts, Antonio seems to have worked on his overall composure inside the area.
The 31-year-old has shown great awareness inside the final third and that's one of the reasons why he has three assists to his name already this term.
#4 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 3 assists
Mohamed Salah has arguably been the best Premier League player so far this season. The Egyptian international just can't seem to stop scoring. He even seems to have taken his game up a notch with his close control and shooting ability looking even better than they did last term.
Salah has been among the goals this season as well. In addition to the three assists he has provided, Salah has scored six goals in seven Premier League appearances as well. The 29-year-old has scored in all of his last seven matches across all competitions so far this term.
#3 Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) - 4 assists
All that talk of Manchester City not having a recognized striker was borderline disrespectful to Gabriel Jesus. Just as detractors were looking to establish the narrative that Jesus doesn't belong at City, he has gone about proving them wrong.
Operating in a wider role in Manchester City's frontline, Jesus has done a stellar job so far. His excellent run to cut inside from the right-wing to then pick out Phil Foden for City's opener against Liverpool has to be the pick of the lot.
Jesus has showed that he is much more than just a fox-in-the-box this term. His movement, ball-carrying abilities and technical finesse are all coming to the fore in what is surely a testing season for the Brazilian forward.
He has done a great job of navigating the fresh challenges so far and Pep Guardiola will be hoping that Jesus can keep it up.
#2 Abdoulaye Doucoure (Everton) - 4 assists
Despite all the noise surrounding his appointment as manager, Rafa Benitez has so far done an excellent job at Everton. The Toffees have been incredibly efficient in attack this term and midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure has been exceptional in a box-to-box role.
In addition to his playmaking credentials, he also has a knack for arriving in the box at the right time to add to Everton's attacking impetus. The Frenchmanl's strength, intelligence and ability to create space for his teammates have all been crucial to the Merseysiders getting off to a good start.
Doucoure has bagged four assists in seven appearances so far this season in addition to the two goals he scored. He has undoubtedly been Everton's best player so far this season.
#1 Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - 7 assists
Paul Pogba has been Manchester United's creator-in-chief in the opening stages of the new Premier League season. The Frenchman worked wonders for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men operating from the left-wing.
Six of Pogba's assists in the 2021-22 season came in two games. He registered four stellar assists in Manchester United's Premier League season opener against Leeds United. He added two more in the 4-1 win over Newcastle United.
Pogba affects the play a lot more when he is deployed in an advanced position. However, owing to the sheer amount of talent that Solskjaer has at his disposal in attack, Pogba has been playing as a central midfielder once again.
Solskjaer has quite a few things to figure out with respect to the high-profile roster he has to manage. He needs to find an advanced role for Pogba where his dithering tendencies on the ball won't negatively affect the team.
If Solskjaer can do it, then Manchester United will benefit hugely from Pogba's playmaking abilities as his vision and passing range are simply unmatched.
