With so much attention on goals and those who bag them, the Premier League’s top assist makers can often fly under the radar. The role of the assist-maker has certainly risen in stature in recent times, but there is still a sense of this crucial part of football being overlooked by fans and statisticians alike — despite its impact on the English Premier League odds from Betfair each week.

There are some players who have stood out more for their assists rather than goals themselves, whilst some players have supplemented outstanding scoring stats with a huge number of assists. Indeed, there are three Premier League players who have hit the magical total of 100 assists, so let’s take a look at them in more detail.

Ryan Giggs

There’s no doubting who the Premier League’s king of assists is. Ryan Giggs enjoyed such a lengthy time at the top with Manchester United that he could hardly fail to rack up plenty of goal contributions. Beginning his career as a pacey winger before gradually being deployed in a more creative role centrally later in his career, Giggs certainly knew how to pick out a teammate.

With a grand total of 162 assists, no one has come close to matching Giggs. The closest active player to that figure is James Milner on 85, so it looks like the Welshman’s status as the Premier League’s king of assists will remain untouched for years to come.

Cesc Fàbregas

Cesc Fàbregas made a name for himself from a young age at Arsenal for his ability to create chances from a deep-lying role, and he honed this skill over a lengthy Premier League career, which also included a spell at Chelsea.

Fàbregas made the game look easy at times, gliding through the midfield before executing the kind of pinpoint-precision passes that became his trademark. Even as he got older and lost some of the dynamism from his early days at Arsenal, he developed into a fantastic deep-lying playmaker, and was crucial in Chelsea’s Premier League triumph in the 2014-15 season.

In total, Fàbregas registered 111 assists in the English top flight, and he’ll go down in history as one of the game’s greatest providers.

Wayne Rooney

With Wayne Rooney sitting in second place on the all-time Premier League goalscorers list, it may surprise some to learn that he is also third in the assist charts. Rooney was an explosive striker in his younger days, but it must be remembered that he switched to a more creative role later in his career, and this is reflected in his number of assists.

It’s quite incredible that, in terms of both goals and assists, Rooney has contributed to 311 goals in his Premier League career. Given the fact that he declined somewhat in the latter days of his career, many forget just how prolific he was, and a total of 103 assists tells the story of a player who had everything.

Frank Lampard

Another who is more associated with goals than assists, Lampard played his part in setting up teammates as well as getting on the scoresheet himself. Flourishing during José Mourinho’s early days at Chelsea, Lampard developed into one of the Premier League’s greatest goalscorers, but also had a tangible impact in terms of assists.

In total, the former England international notched 102 assists, enough to creep into the 100 club and cement his status as one of the Premier League’s all-time greats.