The race to become the Premier League's assist king has really opened up. 

Kevin De Bruyne won the Premier League's Playmaker of the Season award in 2022-23 but a lengthy injury has hit his hopes of defending his crown. 

The Manchester City star has set up an impressive three goals in four appearances but is well off the pace. 

Ahead of Matchday 24 of the Premier League, we take a look a the main contenders to win the battle for providing the most assists. 

Premier League assist table

Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa — 10 

Kieran Trippier, Newcastle — Nine 

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool — Eight 

Pascal Gross, Brighton — Eight 

Pedro Neto, Wolves —  Eight

Phil Foden, Manchester City — Seven

Bukayo Saka, Arsenal — Seven 

Darwin Nunez, Liverpool — Seven 

Pedro Porro, Tottenham — Seven 

Matheus Cunha, Wolves — Six

Julian Alvarez, Manchester City — Six

Leon Bailey, Aston Villa — Six 

James Ward-Prowse, West Ham — Six

Anthony Elanga, Nottingham Forest — Six

James Maddison, Tottenham — Six

Villa's thriller

Ollie Watkins' assist numbers are especially impressive when you consider that he has also scored 11 times, creating a total of 21 goal involvements in 23 games. 

With 14 goals and eight assists, Mohamed Salah has been even more productive at Liverpool in just 20 Premier League appearances. 

Once the Egyptian has returned from his hamstring problem, then he could be in contention to win both the Golden Boot and the Playmaker of the Season awards. 

There are other players who have had their assist numbers impacted by injury who could now rise up the rankings having regained fitness. 

Pedro Neto has eight assists from 14 appearances at Wolves, while James Maddison has six from 13 games at Tottenham. 

A defender has never won the Playmaker of the Season, but Kieran Trippier is well-placed to do so at Newcastle. 

The right-back struggled for a period as the Magpies' fixture commitments piled up. 

He has since recovered to assist in his last two games. 

Art of the assist

The Playmaker of the Season award was launched in 2017-18 and has been won by De Bruyne in three of the past six years. 

In 2019-20 the Belgian equalled Thierry Henry's record of 20 assists in a Premier League campaign. 

De Bruyne has a total of 105, only bettered by Cesc Fabregas' 111 and Ryan Giggs' mammoth record of 162. 

In 2017, the midfielder gave his thoughts on the art of the assist. 

De Bruyne said: "I always like to assist more than scoring. It gives me another feeling. 

"When you score it's a great feeling, but to give a great pass means it's something special for me. It's very underrated what we do." 

It is fair to say that no one is underrating De Bruyne now and whoever takes his assist crown will also deserve much acclaim.