Jeremy Doku joined an exclusive club at the weekend when he created four goals in Manchester City's 6-1 hammering of Bournemouth.
The rapid Belgian winger opened the scoring at the Etihad Stadium before putting on a creative masterclass, proving decisive in a brace for Bernardo Silva and further goals for Manuel Akanji and Phil Foden.
That special performance saw him become the eighth player in Premier League history to lay on four assists in a match, a list that encompasses some of the very best and most creative players to have graced England's top flight.
1. Dennis Bergkamp
Arsenal 5-0 Leicester. February 20, 1999.
The Dutch maestro became the first to achieve the feat when he created a brace for Ray Parlour and set up two of Nicolas Anelka’s hat-trick of goals in a 5-0 win over Leicester in 1999. Bergkamp seemed to save some of his very best performances for when he faced Martin O'Neill's Foxes and this was no different as he showcased his ability to carve defences open at will.
2. Jose Antonio Reyes
Arsenal 7-0 Middlesbrough. January 14, 2006.
The Gunners feature heavily on this list which says a lot about the type of players and style of play desired by Arsene Wenger during the first part of his reign. The late Jose Antonio Reyes had his ups and downs with the club but had a game to remember in January 2006 as he decimated Middlesbrough, setting up Thierry Henry twice and also laying on goals for Philippe Senderos and Aleksandr Hleb. Reyes died in a car accident in 2019, aged just 35.
3. Cesc Fabregas
Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn. October 4, 2009.
The Spaniard is second on the all-time Premier League assists chart – behind Ryan Giggs (162) – with 111 so it's probably no surprise to find him on this list. He bagged four of his total in an eventful win over Blackburn in the 2009/10 season. Arsenal actually fell behind twice before putting Rovers to the sword. Fabregas set up the Gunners' first three goals, helped himself to the fourth and then completed his quartet of assists by teeing up Theo Walcott for their fifth.
4. Emmanuel Adebayor
Tottenham 5-0 Newcastle. February 11, 2012.
The first non-Arsenal man on the list is a player with Arsenal connections, who achieved the feat while playing for their North London rivals Spurs. Adebayor had left for Manchester City and returned to the English capital to play for a Tottenham team managed by Harry Redknapp. Spurs took a big step towards a top-four finish when they thrashed Newcastle at White Hart Lane. Adebayor set up Benoit Assou-Ekotto to open the scoring before twice teeing up strike partner Louis Saha. He laid on a fourth for Niko Kranjcar before notching the fifth himself.
5. Santi Cazorla
Arsenal 4-1 Wigan. May 14, 2013.
The fourth Arsenal player and third Spaniard on the list, Cazorla set up all four goals as the Gunners hammered Wigan and all but confirmed their relegation to the Championship. Just three days earlier the Latics, managed by Roberto Martinez, had stunned Manchester City 1-0 to lift the FA Cup. They had no answer to Cazorla here, though, as he laid on two goals for Lukas Podolski and one each for Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey.
6. Harry Kane
Southampton 2-5 Tottenham, September 20, 2020.
The only Englishman on the list and the only player to achieve the feat away from home. This quartet of assists is also remarkable in that they were all delivered to the same player – Son Heung-min. Kane and Son combined for many goals for Spurs over the years thanks to an effortless synergy that was on show at St Mary's in September 2020. Kane supplied four goals for the Korean and then scored number five himself.
7. Paul Pogba
Manchester United 5-1 Leeds. August 14, 2021.
The most recent man to do it before Doku was Paul Pogba, who enjoyed one of his best games for United against Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds on the opening day of the 2020-21 season. Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick while Mason Greenwood and Fred were also on target, but this was all about Pogba with the BBC describing his display as a “personal triumph”. He left the field to a standing ovation 15 minutes from time.
