Mikel Arteta reached a significant landmark in his Arsenal career on Monday as the Spanish manager took charge of his 250th Premier League match for the club.
The milestone was marked with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park, with Bukayo Saka’s second-half goal giving Arsenal another three points and keeping them perfect after two matches of the new campaign.
Arteta has now joined an elite group of managers who have managed at least 250 Premier League matches at the same club.
His record stands at 151 wins, 48 draws and 51 defeats, giving him a 60.4 per cent winning percentage.
That figure places him fourth among managers to have reached the milestone at one Premier League club. He trails Pep Guardiola, who has a 70.8 per cent win rate, Alex Ferguson on 65.2 per cent and Jurgen Klopp on 62.6 per cent.
Arsenal fans at Villa Park showed their appreciation for the manager after the final whistle, breaking into chants in his honour.
Reacting to the achievement, Arteta expressed gratitude to the supporters and said he was pleased to celebrate the occasion with a victory.
“I’m extremely grateful. It starts to be a big number!
“So I’m really grateful for all the support, the love that I feel from all of them, and yeah, really great to celebrate with a win.”
The Arsenal manager also reflected on the significance of the result, particularly after the club suffered a late defeat at Villa Park last season.
Although Arsenal eventually secured the league title, Arteta admitted that the previous loss remained in the players’ minds ahead of Monday’s encounter.
“It’s a really tough place to come and win; when we came here last year, we lost with the last kick of the game. I think we still had that in our tummies.
“I would define it as a squad victory – I think everybody contributed in a really great way. We’ve been wanting that need in the final third to find the openings and to be more clinical and finish more actions. I’m really pleased because that’s exactly what we need.
“I’m very proud, because these guys won the Europa League again. They have a really good stadium where they can create momentum and shift and change the feelings immediately, and we did it, and I think it’s a big win.”
The victory also maintained Arsenal’s remarkable run in their first away league fixture of the season. The Gunners have now won their opening away league game in each of the last five campaigns.
For Aston Villa, however, the result added to their disappointing start under Unai Emery. The club are still searching for their first shot on target in the Premier League this season.
