Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish disagreed with Gabriel Agbonlahor’s claim on talkSPORT that ‘simple’ assists should not count.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang set up Emile Smith Rowe for Arsenal’s decisive goal in the 1-0 victory at Chelsea on Wednesday and Agbonlahor is adamant it should not have been added to any assist tally.
The Arsenal striker squared to his teammate from the by-line for a simple-tap in as Mikel Arteta’s side earned an unlikely win at Stamford Bridge.
Agbonlahor declared the way assists are recorded is ‘nonsense’
“When you are in the box and it comes off your knee and then a striker puts it away you are getting an assist because you touched it last,” he told talkSPORT Breakfast.
“It is absolute nonsense, I think if you make a worldie pass that is an assist. If you go past two or three players on a good run and you put it on a plate for someone, that is an assist.
“If you make a five-yard pass you cannot call that an assist, I am not having it one bit.
“I am saying if you get past a player with a good bit of skill and take players on and then you have put it on a plate for a striker, that is an assist.
“A worldie ball – a typical Kevin De Bruyne cross or a Cesc Fabregas ball – then you get an assist.
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“You can’t be getting passed the ball and you play it five yards across to the guy who taps it in.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, that is not an assist for me.
“For the Smith Rowe goal I am not having it, all he has done is pass it. It’s an assist but I am not counting it on his tally, I am not having it.