Arsenal’s trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday afternoon will see Mikel Arteta take charge of his 200th match as a Premier League manager.
The Spaniard took over as Gunners boss in December 2019 and has overseen a remarkable rebuild at the Emirates.
The North London club have gone from mid-table mediocrity to competing for Premier League titles year-on-year.
While the ultimate accolades continue to evade his team, Arteta put pen to paper on a new contract in September – a clear indication that the Emirates hierarchy recognise the exceptional work he’s doing.
Arsenal will be buoyed by their 7-1 thrashing of PSV in midweek as they head to the north-west, where they’ll be looking to celebrate their manager’s 200th league fixture with a victory.
Mikel Arteta’s win percentage after 200 Premier League games compared to other managers
Despite enduring a turbulent first 18 months in the dugout, Arteta’s win percentage after 200 Premier League games ranks impressively in the pantheon of English top flight managers.
The tactician already boasts a win percentage of 59.3% after 199 matches, a rate that will increase to 59.5% with victory over United on Sunday.
Regardless of the outcome of the clash in Manchester, Arteta will sit fifth in the win percentage after a double-century of matches as a manager in the Premier League table.
Only Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and Alex Ferguson can flaunt a more impressive win rate at this milestone, while the Arsenal boss comes above the likes of Rafael Benitez, Arsene Wenger and Claudio Ranieri in this specific metric.
Where Arteta stands in relation to these legendary coaches is indicative of his quality as a manager, and shows that he ought to demand more respect for his achievements.
Mikel Arteta needs to add trophies to his repertoire at Arsenal
While accumulating victories at this rate is impressive, Arteta needs to find a way to convert this dominance into silverware.
All of those above him in the win percentage table have at least one Premier League title to their name, while the Guardiola disciple is yet to get his hands on a major trophy, barring the FA Cup he won in his first season.
Arteta has certainly been unfortunate in each of the past three seasons.
In the last two, the 42-year-old has had to contend with a monstrous Manchester City side, that have been able to usurp his team with exceptional points totals.
This campaign, Arsenal have been plagued by injury and find themselves cut adrift of Liverpool partly due to factors out of his control.
However, eventually, the Gunners will have to lift a major trophy.
Otherwise, Arteta risks not being heralded in the way he deserves to be.
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