By the same token a pass to a striker who then twists and turns his way to get a shot off and a goal counts as an assist. On the flip side a through ball that's played on the ground right in front of the feet of the striker to tap in is an assist in the same way an amazing pass to a striker two yards in front of goal who proceeds to miss is still a chanve created.
Your example and my first were wxamples of easy assists and chances created (even though most of the work was done by others) whereas the latter would be hard assists and chances created (but the count the same anyways). Neither is perfect but at the end of the day all these stats have their strengths and weaknesses. It's how you utilize the data that's important.
Ozil creating more chances than anyone else is still noteworthy because that 2 yard pass for Xhaka to hit into row Z would still be on for the others. Ozil has his issues and my eyes tell me he's been poor for the most part when he's played so that stat is surprising to hear. Unless it means of the currently remaining Arsenal players, which could make sense given thag the other options in Mkhi and Iwobi have left.
