After Pep Guardiola signed a new two-year contract extension with Manchester City, Matt Furniss of Opta Analyst looks at the stats behind his trophy-laden tenure so far.
Guardiola has transformed Man City into arguably the world’s best team across men’s football since his arrival at the in the summer of 2016.
Not only have Man City won the Premier League in six of his eight seasons in charge, but last season also saw the club become the first side in English top-flight history to seal four consecutive titles.
In fact, City have won more top-flight league titles in eight years under Guardiola (six) than they won in 87 seasons (four) before his arrival.
Historic trebles
Their best season, so far, undoubtedly came in 2022/23, when Guardiola guided Man City to a historic treble.
In winning the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, they became just the second team in English club history to secure the treble, after Manchester United in 1998/99.
While his first season in the Premier League ended without a trophy in any competition and a third-place finish in the league, 15 points behind champions Chelsea, Guardiola made up for it with a sensational record-breaking campaign in 2017/18.
Their title success that season saw them secure 100 points, becoming the first team in English top-flight history to reach the century (even considering three points for a win in the two-points-for-a-win era).
They scored 106 goals that season, too, making them the first team to net that many in England’s top division in a single campaign since Tottenham Hotspur in 1962/63 (111).
Most points won in a PL season
| Team | Season | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Man City | 2017/18 | 100 |
| Liverpool | 2019/20 | 99 |
| Man City | 2018/19 | 98 |
| Liverpool | 2018/19 | 97 |
| Chelsea | 2004/05 | 95 |
In 2018/19, a 6-0 FA Cup final rout of Watford in addition to another Premier League title and the EFL Cup meant City became the first team in England to secure the domestic treble.
Overall, during his time as a Premier League manager, Guardiola has secured 232 wins from 315 matches. That total is already the fifth-most by a coach in the competition, but on a points-per-match basis, he is the most successful of all time amongst managers to take charge of at least 20 matches.
Averaging 2.35 points per match across his time, Guardiola sits ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson (2.16), Jurgen Klopp (2.11) and former City boss Roberto Mancini (2.05) when considering those to have taken charge of at least 100 matches in the competition.
Similarly, his win rate of 73.7 per cent eclipses that of the next in the rankings by over eight percentage points (Ferguson on 65.2 per cent).
When compared to single spells by other managers at top flight clubs, Guardiola's points-per-match average is higher than even the 2.33 total achieved by Jose Mourinho during his first period at Chelsea between June 2004 and September 2007, in which the Blues twice won the Premier League title.
Guardiola’s tenure at the Etihad Stadium has seen City win a competition-high 232 matches, record the most points, with 739, and score a league-best 777 goals.
Their success is mirrored in defence, collecting 135 clean sheets, seven more their nearest rival Liverpool, who have 128 shutouts.
In fact, Man City have won more points in 315 matches under Guardiola (739) than the 738 points earned in the 424 matches before his appointment.
One sentence you might not have expected to read around Guardiola’s contract extension is that he will probably be keen for Middlesbrough to win promotion back to the Premier League for 2025/26.
He has faced 33 different clubs across his Premier League managerial career and Boro are the only side that he’s failed to beat.
A 1-1 home draw in November 2016 followed by a 2-2 stalemate on Teesside in April 2017 means that Boro have achieved a unique feat over Guardiola.
It’s West Ham United who have suffered the most against Guardiola’s Man City, winning only two points and losing 15 of their 17 Premier League meetings, more than any other club. They have also conceded 46 goals against City under Guardiola, more than any other team.
Can Nuno equal record against Pep?
Nuno Espirito Santo will come up against Man City in the league on Wednesday 4 December aiming to equal a record.
He’s currently won three of his eight Premier League meetings with Guardiola - only Klopp, Antonio Conte and Mourinho have won as many as four matches against him in the competition.
With it seemingly likely that Guardiola will be staying at Man City beyond this season, he will give himself even more of a chance to pull closer to Ferguson’s record tally of 13 Premier League titles.
His six are already the second most in the competition’s history, but level with Bob Paisley and George Ramsay in English top-flight history.
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