Premier League Betting: Egyptian King can rack up the assists

As we count down towards a new Premier League season, it’s time to get those ante-post bets on and where better to look than the often-ignored assist markets? One of our best betting-minds Joshua Jones, has taken a look at the market and highlighted three selections he likes the look of.

Mohamed Salah @ 14/1 each-way with bet365

Topping the charts for both goals and assists last season was Liverpool’s own ‘Egyptian King’, contributing 23 and 13 respectively as the Reds pushed Manchester City until the final day of the season.It was Salah’s most complete season at Anfield since his first after joining from AS Roma in 2017 - and included the most single-season Premier League assists of his career.

Hopefully that’s indicative of his growth as a player into an elite final-third creator, and the signs are there that this could be the case. He was involved in all three goals during Liverpool’s 3-1 Community Shield victory over Manchester City, including assisting Trent Alexander-Arnold’s opener.

Salah created 18 big chances for his teammates last season - a 50% increase on the season before - and now he has an elite aerial threat to aim for too. Darwin Núñez bagged 26 times in 24 Liga starts for Benfica last season, as well as six in six in the Champions League, to tempt Liverpool into splashing almost £70m on his signature. The Uruguayan stuck four past RB Leipzig in preseason and opened his official account to settle the tie in his Community Shield cameo on Sunday.

Dejan Kulusevski @ 33/1 each-way with bet365

What do you look for when you’re betting on assist markets? Creative player? Check. Attacking team? Check. Elite goal-scorers? Check. Dejan Kulusevski ticks all the boxes.

The Swede has been phenomenal for Tottenham since joining on an 18-month loan from Juventus in January, working in tandem with Harry Kane and Heung-min Son to help transform what had been a lacklustre Spurs side into one of the more exciting offensive outfits in the division.

No player in the Premier League contributed more assists than Kulu’s eight since January, whilst only Paul Pogba (who notched four in one game against Leeds) had a better assists per 90 rate.

With Kane and Son to supply - the pair combined for over 40 goals last season - plus the additions of Richarlison from Everton and Antonio Conte’s favourite winger-turned-wing-back Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan, it looks like Kulu should have no shortage of options.

With the bar set last season at 13, and the average over the last five at 15.6 (14.5 excluding De Bruyne’s record breaking season), it wouldn’t be a shock to see the 21-year-old turn his eight in six months into at least 15 over the course of a full season.

Michael Olise @ 50/1 each-way with bet365

Michael Olise has the potential to be a superstar, and I’m investing early in this being the season he truly proves it. The French youth international showed glimpses of quality in his 12 league starts for Crystal Palace last season, and forms part of an fascinating attack for the Eagles.

At just 20 years old, he created more ‘big chances’ per 90 than any other player in the Premier League (0.7) and led all under-21 players in Europe in the same category. 

Olise contributed five league assists despite his limited minutes last year, and is already one of the front-runners for PFA Young Player accolade. With odds of just 5/1 available for that, the market agrees that this could be his breakout year and 50/1 for that to be the case as a provider is definitely worth a little dabble.