xA, short for expected assists, measures the quality of the chances a player creates: every pass that leads to a shot is worth that shot's xG, from 0 to 1. Add up a player's passes and you get the assists they would have had if their teammates finished like an average player.
That makes xA the fairest measure of a creator. An assist needs somebody else to put the ball in; xA only counts the chance.
Every pass that leads to a shot is given the xG of that shot, and the passer is credited with it whether the shot goes in or not. A cutback to a striker six yards out might be worth 0.40 xA; a pass to a defender shooting from 30 yards, 0.02.
A pass that never leads to a shot earns nothing, however good it was, and a shot from a dribble or a rebound credits nobody. Providers differ in the detail, and some value the pass itself rather than the shot that followed, so xA can vary from site to site.
For a creative midfielder or winger, 0.3 xA per 90 minutes is elite. Only three Premier League players with 1,500 minutes or more reached it in 2025/2026: Rayan Cherki on 0.45, Bruno Fernandes on 0.36 and Jérémy Doku on 0.30.
Over a season, the leader usually finishes with around a dozen. Bruno Fernandes created the most in the Premier League in 2025/2026, 12.28 xA, and turned them into 21 assists.
Updated 10 October 2026, after the last game
| Rank | Player | Club | Appearances | Assists | xA | Assists minus xA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cody Gakpo | Liverpool | 5 | 3 | 1.7 | +1.3 |
| 2 | Rayan Cherki | Manchester City | 5 | 2 | 1.5 | +0.5 |
| 3 | Morgan Gibbs-White | Nottingham Forest | 5 | 2 | 1.4 | +0.6 |
| 4 | Enzo Le Fée | Sunderland | 6 | 1 | 1.3 | -0.3 |
| 5 | Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United | 6 | 1 | 1.3 | -0.3 |
| 6 | Martin Ødegaard | Arsenal | 6 | 0 | 1.3 | -1.3 |
| 7 | Granit Xhaka | Sunderland | 6 | 0 | 1.3 | -1.3 |
| 8 | Morgan Rogers | Chelsea | 6 | 1 | 1.2 | -0.2 |
| 9 | Alex Iwobi | Fulham | 6 | 0 | 1.2 | -1.2 |
| 10 | Antoine Semenyo | Manchester City | 5 | 3 | 1.2 | +1.8 |
Premier League player xG and xA, all 428 players
An assist needs a teammate to finish the chance, so it depends as much on the scorer as on the passer. A player whose teammates score the hard ones gets more assists than their xA; one whose teammates miss gets fewer.
Bruno Fernandes had 21 assists from 12.28 xA in 2025/2026, the widest margin above xA in the Premier League, while Mathias Jensen had one assist from 6.06 xA for Brentford.
That is why xA is a steadier guide to a player's creating than their assist count: their teammates' finishing is out of their hands.
A key pass is a pass that leads to a shot that is not scored. Key passes count the chances and xA weighs them, so ten passes to long-range shots can be worth less than one cutback.
xGI, or expected goal involvement, is a player's xG plus their xA: the broadest single measure of how much of a team's attack runs through them. Fantasy Premier League shows it on every player's profile, beside their xG and xA.
xA's other half: the quality of the chances a player gets, rather than the ones they create. How xG is calculated
Assist totals swing with the finishing in front of a player; xA does not. A midfielder with plenty of xA and few assists is creating well and is due a turn, while one far above their xA is being flattered by the strikers they play with.
An assist is worth three points in FPL, and xA per 90 is the quickest way to find the creators behind them. FPL also hands out assists more widely than the official stats, for winning a penalty or a free kick that is scored, so a player's FPL assists can run ahead of their xA.
xA per 90 is a player's expected assists for every 90 minutes played, so starters and substitutes can be compared fairly. Rayan Cherki led the Premier League in 2025/2026 on 0.45 per 90, among players with 1,500 minutes or more.
xG measures the quality of the chances a player gets and xA the quality of the chances they create for others, each scored from 0 to 1 by how often shots like them go in. Added together they make xGI.
Expected assists for every Premier League player, beside their goals and xG, are in the Premier League player xG table.