He might not be a guaranteed starter for Chelsea anymore, but Cesc Fabregas has been one of Antonio Conte's most impactful players this season. In the second half of Tuesday's 4-2 win over Southampton he provided the pinpoint cross for Diego Costa to head in Chelsea's decisive third goal.
It was Fabregas' eighth Premier League assist of the season and 103rd overall in the competition, moving him beyond Frank Lampard into outright second place in the all-time standings behind only Ryan Giggs -- a fitting moment of history for one of the most prolifically creative players of his or any generation.
Only four players have reached 100 assists in the Premier League: Giggs (162), Fabregas (103), Lampard (102) and Wayne Rooney (101).
Wow. Really proud day to become the second best assist maker of all time in this incredible league. Thanks for all your support. ���� pic.twitter.com/Nmy606HSzg
- Cesc Fàbregas Soler (@cesc4official) April 26, 2017
Giggs took 367 appearances to reach the century mark, while Rooney required 445 and Lampard needed 559. Fabregas achieved triple figures in only his 293rd Premier League match -- a rate of one assist in fewer than three games.
In his 10 league campaigns in England, Fabregas has never registered fewer than five assists, the mark he hit in his first two seasons as a prodigious teenager at Arsenal (2004-05 and 2005-06). He has reached double figures five times, four as a Gunner and once at Chelsea.
Thierry Henry holds the Premier League record for assists in a single season, racking up 20 in the 2002-03 campaign; Fabregas has twice come close to matching the Frenchman, setting up 17 goals for Arsenal in 2007-08 and 18 in his first season at Chelsea in 2014-15.
He does, however, jointly hold the record for most assists in a single Premier League match, having set up four goals for Arsenal against Blackburn in October 2009. Three other Gunners (Dennis Bergkamp, Jose Antonio Reyes and Santi Cazorla) have achieved the feat, while Emmanuel Adebayor did it for Tottenham and Dusan Tadic for Southampton.
Three of the prime years of Fabregas' career were spent at Barcelona, where he was widely regarded as a disappointment. Yet he still provided 32 assists across three La Liga seasons, setting up 11 for Lionel Messi and five for Pedro, offering a sign of things to come at Chelsea.
Diego Costa has been the most frequent beneficiary of Fabregas' vision since his arrival at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2014, scoring 11 goals in the Premier League directly from his Spain teammate's passes. Eden Hazard has the next highest with five, while Pedro has four.
Perhaps surprisingly though, Costa is not the player Fabregas has provided the most Premier League goals for; that honour belongs to Adebayor, who netted 13 times from the Spaniard's passes during his three-year spell at Arsenal before leaving for Manchester City.
Bournemouth and Swansea City have been punished more frequently by Fabregas' creativity than any other Premier League opponent in his Chelsea career, each conceding four goals from the Spain international's passes. Former club Arsenal have twice been on the receiving end of the midfield vision they used to rely on.
In an interview with UEFA's Champions League magazine in October 2014, Fabregas said: "There is nothing quite like scoring a goal. Scoring goals is the most beautiful part of football, but I have always identified myself with and enjoyed providing the final ball.
"Only the people who know how to play the final pass for a goal know what it feels like, and I feel immense joy when a goal is scored from my pass."
By that measure, Fabregas' career has been more joyful than most. Conte will hope that whether in the starting XI or on the bench, his assist master can provide a few more moments of magic in the final weeks of Chelsea's season.