Andy Robertson took an early lead in his annual assist competition with Liverpool teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold on Saturday.
It was the Scotland captain’s near-post corner that was headed in by Virgil van Dijk during the thrilling Premier League season-opener, eventually won 4-3 against Leeds United.
Robertson registered 12 assists as the Reds clinched the title last term but, as he had been in the previous campaign, was pipped by one by Alexander-Arnold.
The ultimate goal of the competition, though, is to benefit the team – whichever full-back comes out on top at the end of 2020-21.
“It’s a long, long season so we’ll see how it plays out this time!” Robertson was quoted in Saturday’s official matchday programme.
“I had a lot of games to make up last season and I nearly got there. We both do this competition to get the best out of each other.
“These last two seasons we’ve shown that we can take the numbers to a whole new level for full-backs, especially with Trent breaking the record for a full-back that had stood for many years in 2018-19, and then breaking his own record the year after, which was incredible.
“If I’m anywhere close to him this season then I think we’ll have both had a successful season because I can’t see him not assisting with goals and long may that continue.
“We like to create chances and hopefully that continues this season because us making chances and creating goals is a big part of how we play and we get a lot of joy from it. So long that may continue, but time will tell.
“It’s obviously going to be tough to continue those numbers but that’s our aim and hopefully we can do that.”
