With 2 months and 7 games of the Premier League season now over, WhoScored investigates the division’s best creators by position to assemble the Premier League's Most Creative XI.
Basing our findings on key passes over the course of the season thus far, or passes which directly lead to a goal-scoring opportunity if preferred, the starting XI compiled (in a 4-4-2 formation) is quite a formidable one. In fact, 6 of the 10 outfielders make up the top 20 Premier League players in terms of WhoScored ratings, with some notable inclusions.
We also look further into the key passes which led to assists for each player, to analyse not only those who are laying on the best chances, but also those who have been desperately unlucky not to pick up more assists, or in some cases, any at all.
With Man City having had the most shots, and the most shots on target per game, it is unsurprising to see that 3 of their key players make the XI. League leaders United are represented by two players, while there are also inclusions from Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Wigan and Wolves.
Let Down by Finishing
The two players to be key creators at Goodison Park last season have been let down by the finishing of their teammates this, with Leighton Baines and Mikel Arteta -now with misfiring Arsenal- both failing to make an assist thus far. Despite this, the duo have set up 16 and 18 chances respectively this term, with 14 of the Spaniards tally coming in just 4 games with his new club.
Though Arteta only picked up 5 assists for the whole of last season, he led the way for Everton with 2 key passes per game; a figure which has increased to 3.5 since his move to the Emirates. Leighton Baines’ set-piece duties saw him pick up a sensational 11 assists last season from 1.9 key passes per game. His figure of 2.6 accurate crosses per game has dropped slightly to 2.3 this time around but is still unparalleled in terms of attacking full-backs; in comparison, England's first choice left-back Ashley Cole completes just 0.6 per game.
To put the pair's bad luck into perspective, Jose Bosingwa, who makes the XI at right-back, has 2 assists from just 9 key passes in comparison to Baines in particular. The Chelsea man is only behind Phil Jones (4) in our XI in terms of key passes per assists with 4.5, which goes to prove that Chelsea and United have been far more clinical than both Everton and Arsenal. Surely it is only a matter of time until either Baines or Arteta gets a much-deserved assist?
Pass Masters Leading the Way
Manchester City's summer signing from Arsenal, Samir Nasri, is showing exactly what his former club are missing having already picked up a league high of 6 assists in just 3 starts and 2 substitute appearances. His mammoth league high figure of 4.4 key passes per game can be attributed to an exceptional debut which saw him lay on 11 chances and get his reward with 3 assists. A sensational pass accuracy of 94% is a team high in a squad full of pass masters and is indicative of the outstanding start the Frenchman has made at the Etihad Stadium.
A quite remarkable figure from last season saw Samir Nasri create 57 chances - he has already created 24 this season - yet he registered just 1 assist, which suggests that poor finishing from players at the Emirates is not refined to this season alone.
In terms of overall chances created it is seasoned pro Danny Murphy who leads the way in the league with 25. The figure can be directly attributed to Murphy's set-piece duties but is indicative of the quality that the 34-year-old produces and why the Fulham captain is so important to his team. A relatively low figure of 3 assists (8.33 key passes per assist) may suggest that the Cottagers are failing to fire but one can hardly make judgement after an emphatic 6-0 drubbing of West-London rivals QPR!
Summary
All in all the WhoScored Premier League Most Creative XI has set up 157 chances, with 2 even coming from Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey. Unsurprisingly the backline and keeper are only culpable for just under 25% of said set-ups, with an attacking front 6 laying on a massive 120 chances between them. With a combined total of 19 assists, the average number of key passes per assist for each player is 8.3. One thing that the statistics prove is that Man City's frontline is as potent as ever, with the 10 goals created from the involved Eastlands trio coming at a rate of 5.7 key passes per assist.
