Kevin De Bruyne broke the Premier League assist record after setting up a goal in Manchester City's 4-1 victory at Southampton on Saturday 8th April. Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney previously shared the title. The 31-year-old entered the match at St Mary's with 13 Premier League assists to his name this season, at least three more than any other player in the division. He set up his 99th goal in a 4-1 win over Liverpool last weekend. De Bruyne has now joined the 100 club for assists after curling a perfectly-weighted delivery to goal machine Erling Braut Haaland who headed home the opening goal on the stroke of half time. The Belgium international was also involved in two of City's three goals after the break, albeit not getting an assist on these occasions – firstly feeding Jack Grealish who eventually placed a rebound beyond Gavin Bazunu before City's No.17 won a penalty in the final 15 minutes which was calmy converted by substitute Julian Alvarez.
De Bruyne's latest assist has seen him become the quickest player in Premier League history to set up 100 goals in the competition, doing so after 237 appearances. The playmaker has comfortably surpassed the previous record-holder Cesc Fabregas, who required 56 more matches to reached a century of English top-flight assists for Arsenal. De Bruyne has also become just the fifth player to register a century of Premier League assists, and has moved to within two of former Chelsea and Man City midfielder Frank Lampard (102) who sits fourth on the all-time assist list. The Citizens star is also just three behind Wayne Rooney (103) in third, while Ryan Giggs (162) and Fabregas (111) take up the top two positions. The two-time Premier League Player of the Year is widely regarded as one of the greatest playmakers in the modern era and has been a key cog in Pep Guardiola's machine over the years, winning four top-flight titles in the last five seasons. The Belgian and his City teammates are still in the race to retain the Premier League title this term, with their latest victory over Southampton moving them to within five points of leaders Arsenal, who face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
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