As we celebrate the eighth anniversary of Pep Guardiola's arrival as City boss, we look at his record against four of the Premier League's most iconic managers...

This article was first published in April 2024...

Pep Guardiola has picked up 70 points more than any other manager in Premier League history over their first 300 matches in the competition.

Our manager took charge of his 300th Premier League game in April’s 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.

Since his arrival at City in the summer of 2016, Guardiola has led City to 221 wins and 41 draws – meaning we have amassed an incredible 704 points.

That far outshines all of the greatest managers in the Premier League era, with Jose Mourinho’s haul of 634 points from his first 300 games in the division the second best.

Pep’s 300 Premier League games so far

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp - Guardiola’s greatest rival during his time in England - is next with 633 points, while Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger complete the top five with 627 and 617 respectively.

Our 221 wins under Guardiola is 32 more than Mourinho’s 189 in his first 300 games, with Klopp (188), Ferguson (183) and Wenger (180) not far behind the Portuguese coach but a long way off our manager’s total.

In nearly eight seasons at City, Guardiola has seen his side score 741 goals – an average of almost two and a half per game.

Klopp’s Liverpool scored 637 times in the German’s first 300 league games in England, while Ferguson’s team hit 579, Wenger 561 and Mourinho 519.

The Pep Effect

Put simply, Guardiola’s beautiful football has produced 104 goals more than the next most attacking manager in the Premier League era.

Our goal difference over that period is +494. That’s 150 better than Klopp’s +344 over the same number of games and even further ahead of Ferguson with +314, Wenger’s +297 and Mourinho on +289.

We have only lost 38 times in the Premier League during Guardiola’s reign, making him the hardest manager to beat over his first 300 matches.

Alex Ferguson lost on 39 occasions in his first 300 games with Klopp and Wenger both on 43 and Mourinho on 44.

Since the start of 2016/17, Guardiola’s first season, City’s 704 points puts us 54 ahead of next best side Liverpool.

Arsenal (558), Tottenham Hotspur (546) and Manchester United (543) are a long way behind City but round out the top five in that time.

The Catalan is the most successful manager in Manchester City’s history with 16 honours in total.

His five Premier League titles to date is the second most for a manager in the Premier League.

Another this campaign would be a record breaking fourth successive top-flight title as no other side in the history of English football has ever won the top-flight more than three years in a row.

Guardiola’s record demonstrates the unprecedented level of Premier League dominance he has overseen since arriving at the Etihad Stadium.