Arteta to hit 200 Premier League games as manager

Games against our old rivals in Manchester United are always special occasions, but for Mikel Arteta, Sunday’s visit to Old Trafford will have extra significance.

That’s because our boss will take charge of us in the Premier League for the 200th time, becoming just the 13th boss to achieve the feat at the helm of one club.

In his first 199 matches, Mikel has won 118 times - the fifth-most victories of any manager in their first 200 in the competition which puts him amongst some of English football’s best-ever bosses:

Best PL managerial records after 200 games W W% Pep Guardiola 146 73.0% Jose Mourinho 137 68.5% Jurgen Klopp 127 63.5% Alex Ferguson 122 61.0% Mikel Arteta 118 59.3% Rafael Benítez 114 57.0% Arsene Wenger 110 55.0% Claudio Ranieri 103 51.5% Mauricio Pochettino 103 51.5% Gerard Houllier 101 50.5%

Mikel first took his spot in our dugout against Bournemouth in December 2019, and since then only his former boss Pep Guardiola has clinched more victories and points in the Premier League:

Premier League managers since Dec 26, 2019 P W Pts Pep Guardiola 199 140 449 Mikel Arteta 199 118 390 Jurgen Klopp 173 107 360 David Moyes 179 69 248 Eddie Howe 150 67 234 Thomas Frank 141 49 182 Brendan Rodgers 124 47 166 Nuno Espirito Santo 116 46 162

When comparing him to other Gunners bosses, Mikel has eight more wins than Arsene Wenger achieved when he hit 200 top-flight matches in charge of us, which came at Anfield against Liverpool in December 2001. George Graham meanwhile claimed 103 wins from his 200 league games, split between the First Division and Premier League.

Mikel sits comfortably in fourth spot in the all-time Premier League list for games managed by a Spaniard, but only Guardiola can boast a better points-per-game ratio than Mikel:

Most PL games managed by Spaniards Manager GP W% P/G Rafael Benitez 359 48.2 1.7 Pep Guardiola 331 72.2 2.3 Roberto Martinez 265 30.6 1.2 Mikel Arteta 199 59.3 2.0 Unai Emery 142 50.0 1.7 Javier Gracia 67 31.3 1.2 Andoni Iraola 65 38.5 1.4 Quique Sanchez Flores 48 27.1 1.1

And as he hopes to secure a victory to mark his milestone match, one team Mikel relishes facing more than most is Manchester United. Of all managers to face the Red Devils at least five times in the competition, Arteta has the highest win rate, picking up three points in seven of his 10 matches against them:

Best PL records against Man Utd (min 5 games) Manager GP (5+) W PPG W% Mikel Arteta 10 7 2.2 70.0% Manuel Pellegrini 9 5 1.8 55.6% Pep Guardiola 17 9 1.7 52.9% Carlo Ancelotti 7 3 1.6 42.9% Jose Mourinho 14 6 1.6 42.9% Roberto Mancini 7 3 1.4 42.9% John Lyall 5 2 1.6 40.0% Nigel Pearson 5 2 1.2 40.0% Gerard Houllier 13 5 1.4 38.5% Chris Hughton 8 3 1.1 37.5%

As he completes his second century of league matches in charge, Mikel could do something this weekend that no Gunners boss has achieved since the days of Terry Neill - win successive league matches at Old Trafford.

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