Premier League Most Assists: Two tips at 12/1 and 25/1 to dethrone KDB

• The case against 13/82.63 favourite Kevin De Bruyne

• 12/113.00 Salah looks a rock solid selection

• 25/126.00 Odegaard can improve on last season's tally

As season-long bets go, Kevin De Bruyne at 13/82.63 to register the Most Premier League Assists has to be one of the least appealing wagers I've seen in a long time.

That's not to say it won't land. After all, the brilliant Manchester City midfielder won this market in a canter in the 2019/20 season, and he finished with four more assists than any other player in the Premier League last term.

But in the last five seasons a little pattern has developed that raises one big question - will KDB play enough games to top the assists chart again?

When he registered the most assists in the 19/20 and 22/23 seasons he featured in 35 and 32 games respectively (including substitute appearances).

The three seasons in the last five years that he didn't top the assists chart he featured in 19, 25 and 30 games. That latter season, 25 starts and five substitue appearances, he finished tied 10th for most assists with just eight to his name.

To put it simply then, if you're backing anyone other than De Bruyne in the Most Assists market, you're hoping that the Belgian doesn't play more than 30 games.

Age and rotation has to be factored in

De Bruyne is 32-years-old now, and while his brain remains one of the quickest in world football, his legs are surely slowing down a tad. Consider also that with Ilkay Gundogan no longer at City, there's a chance that KDB could play a slightly deeper role this season.

Of course, De Bruyne's brilliance means he can create goals from anywhere on the pitch, but I have a sense that he'll be rotated more heavily this season given he's likely to be more susceptible to the muscle strains he often suffers from, and that City are very likely to go deep in all the tournaments they're competing in.

At 13/82.63 to back it's a no from me. I think he'll do well to feature in at least 30 Premier League games, and for that reason I'm tipping up two players at much bigger prices.

Salah an obvious selection despite AFCON

To say that I nearly fell off my chair when I saw Mo Salah priced at 13/114.00 when the market first opened (now 12/113.00) is an understatement.

This is a player who has finished fourth (2019/20), first (2021/22) and second (2022/23) in three of the last four seasons in the Premier League assists charts, and he's a player that starts almost every game, when fit. And he's virtually always fit.

Last season Salah assisted 12 league goals, which equated to around one out of every six goals scored by Liverpool, and that's a very similar ratio to KDB's 16 assists given that Man City scored 19 more goals than the Reds.

So if you believe that Liverpool will have a better season than they did the last campaign, and the Salah can stay fit, then he surely has a much better chance of topping the assists charts than his price suggests.

Who will get the most #PL assists?

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-- Betfair (@Betfair) July 18, 2023

In fact, you have to ask yourself why was he priced up at 13/114.00 when he really should be no bigger than 5/16.00? And I'm really glad that I did ask that question because the answer was an obvious one.

Salah will be out of action for Liverpool in the early part of 2024 due to the Africa Cup of Nations taking place, where he will of course be representing Egypt.

But consider this. The last time Salah was away on AFCON duty he missed just three league games, and that was with Egypt getting to the final. That was during the 2021/22 season, and hopefully you noticed above that at the end of that campaign Salah topped the Premier League assists chart.

So Salah going to the Africa Cup of Nations at the start of 2024 really doesn't concern me. He'll miss a maximum of just four games, but more likely only three depending on when Egypt play their first game.

Backing Salah in the Most Assists market (each-way if you prefer at 1/4 odds four places) at 12/113.00 is an obvious bet in my opinion.

Marvellous Martin can have a great season

My second selection in the Premier League Most Assists market is Arsenal's Martin Odegaard at a very appealing 25/126.00.

The case for him isn't an obvious one other than that the Gunners midfielder improved markedly last season to the one prior, and with Mikel Arteta building a very strong team - in which Odegaard is a key player - then it's easy to envisage the superb 24-year-old improving again.

Odegaard registered seven league assists last term, so when you consider that 11 assists was good enough for fourth place, and therefore an each-way pay out, then the attacking midfielder certainly doesn't have a huge mountain to climb to get into the picture.

Arsenal are 9/25.50 second favourites for the title and look set for another fine season in which they score plenty of goals, and should Odegaard stay fit and play the majority of league games then him being chief among the assists is as good a shout as any in his price range.