Kevin de Bruyne's early season form for Manchester City has put him on the brink of surpassing Steven Gerrard's assist tally, despite playing fewer than half the games the Liverpool great did.
Three assists in City's first four league games of the season has taken De Bruyne's overall Premier League tally to 89, just three behind current Aston Villa manager Gerrard.
What makes De Bruyne's return special though is that he has clocked up almost as many assists as Gerrard but in 290 games fewer. It has taken 214 Premier League appearances for the Belgian to set up 89 goals (88 for City, one for Chelsea), while it took 504 outings for Gerrard to provide 92 assists.
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De Bruyne opened his assist account for the season on the opening day, when he put Erling Haaland through on goal to score City's second goal in a win at West Ham.
He grabbed his second in the 4-0 defeat of Bournemouth when he found Phil Foden inside the area, before pulling out the stops to set up Bernardo Silva with a ridiculous pass through the legs of Newcastle's Joe Willock during the 3-3 draw at St James' Park.
De Bruyne currently tops the assist charts for the current season with three, along with Roberto Firmino, Jack Harrison and Gabriel Jesus.
If De Bruyne manages to create a goal or two against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night then he could surpass Gerrard in the all-time standings when City take on his Aston Villa side on Saturday.
De Bruyne could feasibly rise to at least fifth in the rankings by the end of the season, with David Silva's and Dennis Bergkamp's respective tallies of 93 and 94 within reach. Former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs leads the all-time list with 162 assists.
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