Premier League’s most creative players: Man Utd somehow have two players in top 10

James Maddison remains the runaway creative leader but Man Utd are better represented than you might expect.

We’re not counting the assist-makers because that relies on the chances being taken and we’re not counting the key passes because that is also pretty narrow; we are all about the SCA (Shot creating actions), defined as ‘the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls’ by FBRef.

These are the leaders this season for SCAs per 90 minutes…

1) James Maddison (Tottenham) – 8.17 SCAs per 90 mins
The summer signing has adapted to Spurs and Ange-ball seamlessly. He is ludicrously far ahead of the pack here.

2) Rodri (Manchester City) – 5.60
Just a ridiculously good footballer whose availability is perhaps the most decisive factor of any in terms of the title race.

3) Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United) – 5.33
Deserved his last two Premier League starts, creating more chances than any of his teammates – including Bruno Fernandes – v Luton.

4) Jeremy Doku (Manchester City) – 5.2
He had 11 of the sods against Bournemouth alone. Pep Guardiola has unlocked a new attacking dimension.

5) Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) – 5.08
Strip him of the captaincy all you want but certainly don’t do anything other than build a Manchester United attack around him.

6) Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) – 5.05
Back to something close to his best v Burnley and remains Arsenal’s most important player.

7) Luis Diaz (Liverpool) – 4.79
No Premier League assists since last October but Diaz remains an excellent player crucial to Liverpool’s trophy hopes.

8) Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) – 4.75
Only one Premier League assist this season but these numbers show he is still intrinsic to Liverpool being in the title race.

9) Alfie Doughty (Luton) – 4.70
We presume he will slowly drop down this list but for now, the Luton left-back is ahead of millions of pounds of signings. And we had literally never heard his name about six weeks ago.

10) Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool) – 4.70
Clearly belongs on lists like these even if all that creativity took 10 games to actually lead to a Premier League assist. Has taken to the English top flight with ease.