Sunday’s meeting with Manchester United will see Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, reaching 200 games as Premier League director.
The Gunners took a big risk when they hired Arteta in December 2019. Although widely respected at the time, Arteta had never led a team and had only three years of experience as assistant from Pep Guardiola to Manchester City in his name.
Things were not always smooth in the early stadiums, but Arteta quickly restored Arsenal as a real pretenders in the race for the title of the Premier League, with his return from 118 victories of 199 games leaving him with estimated company.
Guardiola won 146 of his first 200 games in the first English flight, more than any manager has never succeeded during his first 200 outings.
Jose Mourinho recorded 137 victories during his first 200 outings with Chelsea, while the former boss of Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, succeeded 127. The legendary Sir Alex Ferguson is fourth out of 122, with Arteta just behind in fifth.
This is an important step for Arteta, but which may not interest the Arsenal boss while looking for three points against United on Sunday to keep a late first league accusation of his team.
Arsenal seated 13 points behind Liverpool, after playing a match less than the side of Arne Slot, and could see this gap extend this weekend when the Reds face Southampton on Saturday.
