Declan Rice soared to the top of the Premier League assist chart after setting up Arsenal‘s winner against Liverpool.
Arsenal made a statement to the rest of the Premier League on Sunday when they beat Liverpool at Anfield for the first time in 14 years thanks to a Kai Havertz goal. The German scored from Rice’s low cross across the face of goal.
The England man has five assists after nine Premier League games.
Just behind Rice in the assists chart are Pascal Gross and Evanilson with four each. Maxim de Cuyper, João Pedro, Johan Manzambi, Mohammed Kudus, Daichi Kamada, Cody Gakpo, and Josko Gvardiol round out the rest of the top 10 — with three assists each so far this season.
The Gunners have developed a reputation as a side with serious set-piece prowess in recent years. During their charge to the title last season, they scored 25 goals from set-pieces.
But they haven’t been scoring quite as much from set-pieces so far this season — something that is also reflected by all of Rice’s assists coming in open play.
Rice has already equalled his assists tally from the 2025-26 season.
Head coach Mikel Arteta acknowledged last week that Arsenal have not been quite as prolific from set-pieces this season, as Ezri Konsa‘s goal against Everton marked the first time the champions had scored from set-play in the Premier League.
“You have to see them when we train the level of attention and how much they believe in what we do and what Nico [Jover, set-piece coach] does as well,” Arteta said after the Everton match.
“There’s no question about that, but at the end he has to come through and he has to make the difference and we know that that is a massive welcome for us.
“We hadn’t scored from a set-piece, which we were disappointed with because we had generated so many chances as well,” Arteta said.
“We know that in every phase of play we want to be the best and we’re not going to stop until we do it.”
– Arsenal hold on for a big win at Liverpool, one Iraola & Co. can learn from
– Kai Havertz becomes all-time record German goalscorer in Premier League
– Andoni Iraola: I will ‘definitely’ tell Alexander Isak to go down in future after Arsenal penalty controversy
Next for the Gunners is a trip to Slavia Prague in the Champions League, before a home clash with newly-promoted Hull City
