Feature

What's new this season? Debutant managers

2 Aug 2018

Left to right: Slavisa Jokanovic, Nuno Espirito Santo, Maurizio Sarri, Unai Emery

Find out about the four new faces set to take charge of a PL club for the first time

As the days count down to the first match of the season, premierleague.com looks at things new to the competition for 2018/19.

Managers

Since its inception in 1992, a total of 231 managers or head coaches have taken charge of a club in the Premier League.

That number will increase to 235 on the opening weekend with four new tacticians set to make their maiden appearances in the competition.

Slavisa Jokanovic (pictured, above left) and Nuno Espirito Santo (pictured, above centre left) will experience the PL for the first time as a reward for guiding Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham to promotion from the Championship respectively.

Jokanovic, 49, will be the first Serbian to manage in England's top tier, while Nuno, 44, will be the 10th Portuguese national, but first native of the African island of Sao Tome and Principe to grace the competition.

Maurizio Sarri, the 59-year-old Italian (pictured, above centre right), has replaced compatriot Antonio Conte at Chelsea, and Arsenal's Unai Emery (pictured, above right) takes over from the longest-serving manager in the history of the competition, Arsene Wenger.

Emery will need to take charge of 829 matches in order to surpass the Frenchman's appearance total, a feat that would require the Spaniard to still be in charge in the 2040/41 season, by which time he will be 68 - Wenger's current age.

PL's longest-serving managers

Manager	Apps	W	D	L	Win %
Arsene Wenger	828	476	199	153	57.5
Alex Ferguson	810	528	168	114	65.2
Harry Redknapp	641	236	167	238	36.8
David Moyes	526	204	144	178	38.8
Sam Allardyce	512	174	138	200	34
Mark Hughes	452	157	121	174	34.7
Steve Bruce	392	110	109	173	28.1
Martin O'Neill	359	130	115	114	36.2
Alan Curbishley	328	108	85	135	32.9
Tony Pulis	322	98	93	131	30.4

Familiar faces

There are three more familiar faces returning to the Premier League in charge of new clubs.

Having already won the 2013/14 Premier League title with Manchester City, Manuel Pellegrini will be in the dugout for West Ham United in 2018/19.

Marco Silva has taken the helm at Everton following spells at Hull City and Watford, and Neil Warnock is back in the top flight with Cardiff City.

The Yorkshireman has managed Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace in the Premier League and is tasked with overseeing the Bluebirds' second PL season, having guided them to promotion in May.