Pep Guardiola’s record as a Premier League manager will probably never be bettered, while Mikel Arteta is closing in on Jurgen Klopp.

The cut-off point is 50 games and there is no surprise at the lower/higher reaches of this list.

If you want an actual list of the best 10 Premier League managers of all time, come this way…

 
10) Arne Slot (Liverpool): 1.89 pts per game
There was a Premier League title but then there was one of the worst Premier League title defences of all time. And yet he retains his place on this list ahead of Carlo Ancelotti. We can see Enzo Maresca coming up on the rails, mind…

 
9) Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea): 1.94 pts per game
Good but ultimately not good enough for Chelsea, who sacked him in September 2022 with the Blues in sixth place. Was it harsh? Very much so. Did Chelsea look better for sacking him? Absolutely not. He is now England manager.

 
8) Arsene Wenger (Arsenal): 1.96 pts per game
The high of the Invincibles (2.37 PPG) became the low of his final season in charge of Arsenal (1.66 PPG), long after he probably should have walked away. Sticking around longer than he was welcome probably cost him a few places on this list.

 
7) Jose Mourinho (Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham): 2.02 pts per game
His final half-season at Chelsea was disastrous, his final half-season at Manchester United was little better, and Tottenham was always an uneasy union that never quite felt comfortable. But there is no doubt that Jose Mourinho constructed one of the great Premier League sides first time round at Chelsea. He would be wise to resist a return that would taint his legacy further.

 
6) Mikel Arteta (Arsenal): 2.03 pts per game
Finally claimed the Premier League title he absolutely deserved in 25/26 and has now gone past Jose Mourinho and is on the coat-tails of Antonio Conte. Arteta is truly an elite Premier League football manager.

 
5) Antonio Conte (Chelsea and Tottenham): 2.03 pts per game
In the end, he became too toxic for both Chelsea and Tottenham but the record books show that he won an awful lot of points for both clubs (and a league title for the former). He made Spurs quite comfortably the fourth best side in England and that is some feat.

 
4) Roberto Mancini (Manchester City): 2.05 pts per game
He won Manchester City’s first Premier League title. What more do you want? Well, lots more apparently; he was sacked a year after he won that title having apparently failed to hit certain targets. It now feels ludicrous that City would ever go a whole year without winning silverware but 2013 was a different time.

 
3) Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool): 2.11 pts per game
The 2.61 PPM of the title-winning year then became 1.82 as the Reds stumbled. That he pulled that number back up to 2.42 in 21/22 was remarkable, but 22/23 was a new low for a completed Liverpool season: 1.76. That number rose again to 2.16 as he bowed out with a third-place finish.

 
2) Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United): 2.16 pts per game
In 21 Premier League seasons, Ferguson’s Manchester United side only twice dropped below the two points per game mark. That is nothing short of remarkable consistency from a brilliant manager who managed to build three great, great sides. Most will forever see him as the GOAT whatever the man above/below him on this list achieves.

 
1) Pep Guardiola (Manchester City): 2.28 pts per game
He’s only once logged a number lower than two points per game (the disastrous 2024/25 season). His record is extraordinary and will likely never be matched. There will be those who claim his record is a sham because of Manchester City’s financial shenanigans, but you don’t sham your way to 2.28 points per game in the Premier League.