Arsenal’s Kai Havertz, right, kicks the ball ahead of Chelsea’s Maxence Lacroix during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea on September 6, 2026
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The 10 years Pep Guardiola spent at Manchester City represent one of the greatest acts of dynasty-building in the sporting universe.

Not only did the Catalan coach City to six Premier League titles, five League Cups, three FA Cups, one UEFA Champions League crown and one at the FIFA Club World Cup, he did so by assembling multiple great sides, revolutionising tactics, and constantly reinventing himself.

Dominant reign

Guardiola’s six Premier League trophies are second only to Alex Ferguson’s 13 at Manchester United, and even in the four years when City did not win the top prize, it stayed in the top three. No other coach won more than one Premier League title during Guardiola’s time in England.

When such a king abdicates the throne and leaves his kingdom, as Guardiola did at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, there is bound to be an almighty jostle among those below to be the immediate heir. The 2026-27 Premier League season, which got underway late on Friday (August 21), will be the battleground to decide whom the power is transferred to.

The setting is conducive for an intriguing competition. City without Guardiola will be one of nine clubs to have new coaches, and two others in Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur did not have Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi in place at the start of the year.

Mikel Arteta, who secured Arsenal its first English top-flight crown in 22 years, is the most experienced, having been in the job for a little over six years and seven months. Unai Emery, who masterminded Aston Villa’s 2025-26 Europa League triumph, is next, with a stint now at roughly three years and 10 months.

Though Guardiola has exited the scene, his giant shadow still looms. Enzo Maresca, who has replaced the 55-year-old at the Etihad, and Arteta have served as his assistants. Xabi Alonso, installed as Chelsea’s new manager, was once Guardiola’s midfield marshal at Bayern Munich.

The post-Pep Premier League era will not have a clean break in terms of tactics too, for Guardiola has left a deep imprint, both in terms of the first principles he introduced, and how he evolved and shed his orthodoxies to cater to the League’s fast-changing demands.

When he first arrived, Guardiola was a cleric of the possession-heavy school and was canonical in his belief that retaining the ball was the best route to success. So much so that even goalkeepers weren’t spared; one of his first decisions at City was to replace Joe Hart, a top-class shot-stopper, with Claudio Bravo, a ball-playing goalie.

And it felt like the league as a whole — with the glorious exception of Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United — was trying to inculcate parts of it.

Guardiola then changed tack to embrace high-energy players and those with great individual skills in order to adjust to the breathless, end-to-end football that the likes of Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) and Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham) introduced. The controlled aggression of the earlier years made way for a more expressive and expansive style.

Philosophical blasphemy

And in his last four seasons in charge, he played with one of world football’s purest strikers in Erling Haaland. For a man who once made Lionel Messi turn out as a False 9, and then won two Premier League trophies in 2020-21 and 2021-22 with midfielders as top-scorers (Ilkay Gundogan with 13 goals and Kevin de Bruyne 15), to have Haaland score 112 times over four campaigns would have been akin to philosophical blasphemy.

However, football is now more direct and physical than in recent times and it is to Guardiola’s credit that he tweaked his methods and put in place a blueprint for success. “You need to adapt, evolve,” City’s Maresca said recently. “Set-pieces, man to man — it’s a little bit the direction where football is going. We managers… it’s our duty to find solutions.”

Immediate impact: Michael Carrick, drafted in by Manchester United after Ruben Amorim’s sacking, has taken to managerial life at Old Trafford like a duck to water.
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Who among Arteta, Carrick, Alonso, Andoni Iraola and Maresca will answer the call? For one, the sight of Arteta, Carrick and Alonso walking briskly up and down the touchline is sure to remind fans of their glory days as players for Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool not so long ago. For a certain generation, it will appear like they are reliving a childhood dream.

Arteta has the first-mover advantage, having already won the League and possessing a winning combination. The addition of Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle for GBP 75 million will reduce the inordinate burden on midfielder Declan Rice. But Arsenal’s unsuccessful pursuit of Vinicius Junior suggests that the outfit is mindful of the need of a world-class threat upfront.

Carrick, who took over at Old Trafford after the sacking of Ruben Amorim, had an impressive stint as caretaker manager, winning 12 and drawing three of his 17 matches in 2025-26, and helping United qualify for the Champions League after a two-season hiatus. The question before the astute 45-year-old is whether his United has the quality to sustain simultaneous domestic and continental challenges.

For Alonso, Chelsea is the opportunity to light up an aura that has seemingly dimmed after a failed seven-month stint as Real Madrid’s boss. The 44-year-old is known to possess a shrewd tactical brain, and his role in ending Bayern Munich’s hegemony in Germany — 11 straight Bundesliga titles from 2012-13 to 2022-23 — by leading a young Bayer Leverkusen side to its maiden crown is noteworthy. The addition of 24-year-old English attacking midfielder Morgan Rogers for a whopping GBP 117 million shows that he has Chelsea’s wholehearted trust.

Point to prove: For Xabi Alonso, the Chelsea job is the opportunity to light up an aura that has seemingly dimmed after a failed stint as Real Madrid.
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Andoni Iraola’s ascent to the top job at Liverpool after making a mark at Bournemouth is eerily similar to Graham Potter’s entry into Chelsea in 2022 after a stellar show at Brighton & Hove Albion. But Potter was dismissed in less than seven months, a fate Iraola will want to avoid.

The 44-year-old is agnostic to any style of play that is not front-footed, a factor that endeared him to the Liverpool hierarchy after a dreary end to Arne Slot’s time. Can he manage to keep the club faithful happy without the services of Mohamed Salah, who left after nine glorious years?

Tough act to follow

Maresca’s situation at City is comparable to what David Moyes faced at United after the latter succeeded Ferguson in 2013. The Italian’s first test will be to not get crushed under the burden of expectations after Guardiola’s supremely successful tenure. It helps that City is not known to be trigger-happy, for both Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini enjoyed tenures lasting three years or more before Guardiola arrived.

Maresca also comes with a certain pedigree, having led Chelsea to FIFA Club World Cup glory in 2025, and has added England midfielder Elliot Anderson for a hefty GBP 116 million fee. But he will have to compete without the talismanic World Cup winner Rodri, who has shifted to Barcelona, and fellow playmaker Bernardo Silva, who has moved to Real Madrid.

Will he be guided by the spirit of Guardiola or will the ghost of Guardiola haunt him?

Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard lifts the trophy after his team won the FA Community Shield final match between Arsenal and Manchester City in Cardiff, Wales, on August 16, 2026
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After presiding over PSG’s successful Champions League title defence, Luis Enrique put his name up in lights in the hall of fame for football’s greatest-ever managers.

Having previously guided Barcelona to Champions League glory in 2014-15, the Spaniard secured his third European Cup triumph as a coach. He joined an elite group of managers with three or more European Cup titles, alongside Carlo Ancelotti, who won a record five, and Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola, who have each lifted the trophy three times.

Getting one over Guardiola

By going back to back, Enrique achieved what even his good friend Guardiola — who has a case for being considered the greatest ever — could not. And he did it in some style, with his PSG team being feted for its silky interplay and bewildering movement.

Enrique’s insistence on high-intensity, high-pressure football with electrifying forwards who dribble through defences has created a rare blend — arguably even improving on Guardiola’s iconic Barcelona side which won the Champions League twice. He has expanded on the possession-based ideas of Spain’s best teams, adding risk-taking and transitional threat.

Enrique’s PSG plays structured positional football, typically a 3-1-6 in possession. But there is fluidity within this formation — it’s not the same players in the same positions at all times. The side can pull apart most defences with its clever positional interchanges.

While PSG couldn’t break Arsenal down in the final, which went to penalties, it still created several headaches for the English champion, which Enrique said was the best team in the world out of possession. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said after the game that his plan wasn’t to have just 25% of the ball, but PSG’s dominance had precipitated the situation.

“It’s not a plan to play in certain scenarios when you don’t have the ball but they force you to do that,” Arteta, who admitted to being inspired by Enrique and PSG, said. “What they are able to do with the ball, individual actions, I haven’t seen it [before]. And so even more praise to them.”

In many ways Enrique is the defining figure of this PSG project, after the megastars, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe, departed. As Arteta said, “His fingerprints are all over this team.” Enrique arrived in Paris in 2023 promising a cultural shift rather than instant glamour. The Spaniard wanted a team in which collective sacrifice outweighed individual status, where the biggest names defended, pressed and suffered together. It’s fair to say he has succeeded.

After Mbappe left in 2024, Lucho, as he is nicknamed, said his team would become even stronger. “Having a player who moved wherever he wanted meant there were parts of the game I couldn’t control… next year, I’ll control everything. Everything,” he said. And he did.

The club still invested heavily in players, but players tailored to their manager’s plans, willing to run endlessly for the collective, and keep egos in check. “I arrived at the club thinking, ‘My objective is to make history,’ and we have indeed made history,” Enrique said. “We want to keep writing the story because we believe there’s still more there for us to achieve.”

Trophy-winning dynasty

Enrique has won 12 trophies, including three Ligue 1 titles, during his time at PSG. It is clear, from inside and outside, the effect the Asturian has had on a club built in his image, capable of creating a modern football dynasty. But while there is no doubt about Enrique’s quality, the question of his legacy, specifically the PSG chapter, is less straightforward.

The French team, built with Qatari riches, continues to face questions about ‘sportswashing’, which global campaigning network Greenpeace defines as “the act of sponsoring a sports team or event in order to distract from bad practices elsewhere. This tactic is often used by companies and governments with poor environmental or human rights records, exploiting people’s love of sports to ‘wash’ their image clean”.

Qatar Sports Investments acquired a controlling stake in PSG in 2011, just under a year after Qatar was named host for the 2022 World Cup. Critics saw both moves as a means to “mute criticism of an autocratic regime”, to take attention away from its “appalling treatment of migrant workers”, “suppression of human rights”, and “imprisonment of whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais”.

Critics also cite the financial imbalance enjoyed by state-owned teams such as PSG, Manchester City and Newcastle, arguing that it undermines fair competition. They point to the influence of PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi, the chairman of both European Football Clubs (EFC) and broadcasting company beIN, on the administration of European club football. This, they say, is the “the deeper effect of state money”.

The questions and criticism have reduced with PSG’s success on the biggest stage — critics contend that this is precisely the point of ‘sportswashing’.

Sticking point: Enrique’s tenure at PSG doesn’t lend itself to easy analysis. Critics say the financial imbalance enjoyed by the Qatar-owned club and the influence of PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi on European football undermines fair competition.
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Enrique’s tenure at PSG — much like Guardiola’s at City, which was marked by incredible trophy success but marred by 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations — will be accompanied by a knotty question: Can legacy be separated from the context of the circumstances in which it is built?

Fans of Enrique will hope that the answer doesn’t define him entirely. The 56-year-old has enriched the game with his progressive ideas of play, extending the limits of modern tactical thinking. While mastering his craft, he has endured a great personal tragedy and borne the loss of his young daughter with resilience and grace. Some will also highlight the fact that other managers have enjoyed Enrique’s resources at PSG but failed to produce the results he has.

Target three-peat

For his part, Enrique isn’t overly concerned about his legacy, at least publicly. After the final, he said he was “not interested” in whether he was becoming a legend or not. His next target is the Champions League three-peat. “The first one was incredible, but more than anything we had that desire to get the second,” he told broadcaster M6. “I love this club so much, and it’s not over! We’ve got the second, we’ll keep working and go get the third.”

Record 15-time winner Real Madrid won the Champions League three times (2016-2018). Before that, the last teams to complete a hat-trick were Bayern Munich and Ajax in the 1970s. Real also won it five years running, back at the competition’s inception. “We can talk about the back-to-back-to-back,” said Enrique. “We can talk about these types of objectives, our club is worthy of it, as are our supporters. We do need new players to refresh certain positions, but we’ve been champions of Europe for two years… piano piano [slowly, slowly].”

Seven years after returning to a fractured Arsenal, Mikel Arteta will lead his side into Saturday’s Champions League final against Paris St ‌Germain, one win from completing a remarkable rebuild.

Guiding Arsenal to their first Premier League title since 2004 this season has already repaid the club’s long-term faith in him after three ⁠successive runner-up finishes.

Now he has the chance to go one step further and cap what could be the greatest season in Arsenal’s history by delivering Europe’s biggest club prize for the first time.

“We have raised different standards now, and now we ‌have to go to the next level,” Arteta said this week.

For a coach shaped by Pep Guardiola during a three-year spell as Manchester City assistant, imitation might have been the obvious route. ‌Many have tried, and failed, to reproduce his fellow Spaniard’s blueprint.

Arteta chose a different path.

Arsenal’s rise ‌has ⁠been built not just on control, but on pragmatism, a blend of zonal dominance, high ⁠pressing and defensive discipline underpinned by a non-negotiable team ethic.

A side once mocked for vulnerability has been reshaped into one adept at winning ugly when necessary.

“You have to be ruthless, and you have to be consistent… to create a winning mentality,” Arteta said soon after arriving at Arsenal in 2019. “Without an identity, you ‌cannot plan and you cannot convince a player to do what you want,” he added.

When Arteta returned to the club, he served as a midfielder; those foundations were missing with the drift and discord that marked the final years of Arsene Wenger’s reign deep-rooted.

“I am very lucky that we have an ownership model that ‌understood the picture was ugly,” he told the podcast the Overlap.

“The best part was changing the culture… to understand deeply how people feel about working in the organisation, and I wasn’t happy… I wasn’t impressed at all,” he said.

Team bonding

The reset went beyond tactics. Arteta reshaped the environment ⁠at the training ground at London Colney, surrounding players with messages, mantras and symbols.

Unity and accountability became daily expectations, while team bonding helped build a tightly connected group. He even introduced a pet black labrador named “Win” to the ‌training ground, with players sharing responsibility for walking her.

That ‘family’ environment now defines Arsenal as much as their football. Attention to detail has translated directly onto the pitch. The appointment of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover in 2021 proved a turning point, turning marginal gains into a decisive weapon.

Arsenal have broken the Premier League record for goals from corners this season, with more than a third of their goals coming from set-pieces, and a string of narrow wins underlining their evolution from nearly-men to champions.

Former Everton manager David Moyes sees that shift clearly. “You have seen ‌Mikel over a few years, he has got dark arts… because you are desperate for your team to win,” Moyes said.

Arteta still points to the collective.

“It’s just a joy of a group… the togetherness, the unity, the love, the respect,” he said after Arsenal sealed their place in the final by beating ⁠Atletico Madrid.

The road has not been smooth. Early setbacks and near-misses tested the project, but gradually Arsenal moved from ⁠contenders to champions, buoyed by what Arteta describes as the “energy, the positivity and the confidence” around the club.

Now, that belief faces its ultimate test against PSG – one of Europe’s most formidable sides and ‌a club tied to Arteta’s own past. The Spaniard played for the French side early in his career.

“We have an amazing opportunity to write new history in our football club,” he said.

From reset to resurgence, Arteta has reshaped Arsenal in his own image – disciplined, resilient and driven by belief. Now the final step is within reach.

Published – May 28, 2026 12:34 am IST

Arsenal kept alive their Premier League title challenge with a 5-1 demolition of dismal Manchester City on Sunday as the troubled champions endured another humiliation in their season from hell. Mikel Arteta‘s side had no margin for error in the title race after leaders Liverpool won 2-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday to move nine points clear of the Gunners. They rose to the occasion with a blistering performance inspired by Martin Odegaard‘s opener after 103 seconds at the Emirates Stadium. Erling Haaland hauled City level soon after half-time with his 25th goal in all competitions this season.

But the careless mistakes that have hampered City throughout a dismal campaign proved decisive when Thomas Partey capitalised on Phil Foden‘s poor pass to restore Arsenal’s lead.

Myles Lewis-Skelly’s first Arsenal goal and late strikes from Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri put the seal on a masterful display as the Gunners closed within six points of Liverpool.

Liverpool’s game in hand keeps them firmly in control of the title race, but Arsenal’s vibrant performance extended their unbeaten run to 14 games and underlined their desire to push the Reds to the finish line.

City have now failed to win any of their last four league meetings with Arsenal as their six-game undefeated run in the top-flight came to a brutal end.

With a fifth successive title long erased from City’s ambitions after their wretched season, Pep Guardiola’s fourth placed side are focused on qualifying for the Champions League.

But even that could be beyond them — let alone getting past Real Madrid in this season’s play-off round — unless Guardiola can fix the gaping holes in his defence and the lack of energy in midfield.

Guardiola had opted to bring in John Stones for former Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov, who endured an error-strewn debut against Chelsea last weekend.

But Stones was involved in the calamitous defending that gifted Arsenal the lead in the second minute.

It was Stones’ pass to the marked Manuel Akanji that put his fellow defender in a difficult situation.

Akanji was immediately robbed by Leandro Trossard before Kai Havertz picked out Odegaard and the Arsenal captain slotted home from 10 yards with City’s defence in disarray.

Shell-shocked City

Already fearing the worst, Guardiola stomped back to the bench with a thunderous expression.

City controlled possession but were toothless for long periods, prompting all manner of agitated gestures from the exasperated Guardiola.

Haaland angered Arsenal after telling Arteta to “stay humble” and throwing the ball at Gunners defender Gabriel Magalhaes during the stormy 2-2 draw earlier this season.

So inevitably, it was Haaland who grabbed City’s 55th minute equaliser.

Savinho’s perfectly weighted cross gave Haaland the chance to get in front of William Saliba and bury his close-range header.

But Arsenal took just two minutes to wipe from smile from Haaland’s face.

Foden’s pass was picked off by Partey and the Ghana midfielder unleashed a powerful long-range drive that went in via a wicked deflection off Stones.

Arsenal scented blood and Lewis-Skelly went for the kill in the 62nd minute.

Cutting inside the City area, the 18-year-old left-back showed poised that belied his lack of experience as he curled a fine finish into the far corner.

In a cheeky jibe at Haaland, Lewis-Skelly marked the goal by sitting down with his legs crossed to mimic the City star’s meditative celebration.

There was more misery for shell-shocked City as the much-maligned Havertz got on the scoresheet in the 76th minute.

Gabriel Martinelli swaggered through City’s leaky defence and teed up Havertz for a clinical finish from 10 yards.

Deep into stoppage-time, teenage forward Nwaneri delivered the final blow, whipping a superb finish into the far corner from an acute angle.

Arsenal fans taunted Guardiola with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” and, not for the first time in a chastening afternoon, City had no response.

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta said his side could handle any opposition after progressing directly to the Champions League last 16 with a 2-1 win at Girona on Wednesday. A much-rotated Gunners side defeated the Catalan outfit with goals from Jorginho and Ethan Nwaneri after falling behind to Arnaut Danjuma’s first-half strike. Arsenal, avoiding the play-off phase added this season, will play Juventus, AC Milan, Feyenoord or PSV Eindhoven in the last 16.

“Winning in this competition is very demanding but overall the team has been very consistent, regardless of all the issues they have had to face,” Arteta told reporters after a fourth consecutive European victory.

“(Hopefully it breeds) more belief in that dressing room that we are a good team and we can face anyone and still perform and win games.”

Neto made his Arsenal debut against Girona in goal with Arteta saying first-choice stopper David Raya was hurt.

“He certainly could not play, he is injured,” explained the coach, ahead of Manchester City’s impending visit to face Arsenal in the Premier League, in a key title race clash on Sunday.

Veteran Brazilian goalkeeper Neto, 35, erred for Girona’s opener, with the Bournemouth loanee caught out of his box and Danjuma able to finish past him from distance.

Attacking midfielder Nwaneri led the line for Arsenal and finished brilliantly for the winner, with team-mate Mikel Merino hailing the 17-year-old starlet.

“He is ruthless, he has no fear on the pitch,” Merino told TNT Sports.

“He has a really high ceiling and we are going to help him reach it.”

Arteta praised the teenager for his exciting display at Montilivi.

“I’m really impressed, making his debut as a Champions League starter today and scoring the goal that he scored, especially in a very important moment,” said the coach.

“His influence, his composure on the ball and how aggressive he is when he gets it, it’s impressive.”

Arsenal have been linked in English media with a bid for Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins to reinforce their attack with Gabriel Jesus out injured, but Arteta did not want to comment on the matter.

“I can’t talk about any of that — my confidence is that we have an amazing club with people always working to try and improve,” he added. “Let’s see what happens.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta© AFP

Newcastle put a huge dent in Arsenal’s title aspirations on Saturday, winning 1-0 to give leaders Manchester City the chance to move eight points clear of the Gunners at the top of the Premier League. Alexander Isak scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 12th minute, heading home Anthony Gordon‘s pinpoint cross from the right. Arsenal struggled to get out of first gear and although they dominated possession, they produced just one shot on target in the entire game.

Mikel Arteta‘s men have now picked up just one point in their past three games as their title push quickly runs out of steam.

If defending champions City win at Bournemouth later on Saturday they will be eight points clear of the Gunners. Liverpool, a point behind City, host Brighton at Anfield.

Arsenal have pushed Pep Guardiola’s City hard in each of the past two seasons and appeared to be well-equipped for another title challenge but the gap already looks alarmingly big.

The injury-hit visitors started brightly in the opening seconds at St James’ Park, with Leandro Trossard dragging the ball wide.

But the home side, who had not won for five matches, quickly settled and Sweden forward Isak got between Gabriel and William Saliba to head home from Gordon’s exquisite first-time cross.

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka lacked penetration but headed just wide in the 18th minute after leaping above his marker.

Newcastle defender Lewis Hall blocked Mikel Merino’s shot on the line after a Declan Rice corner caused chaos but the visitors lacked rhythm and failed to match the intensity shown by the home side.

Arteta opted against making changes at half-time and Newcastle came close to doubling their lead almost immediately, with Joe Willock’s shot saved by David Raya.

The Spanish boss threw on 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and Oleksandr Zinchenko for Gabriel Martinelli and Merino just after the hour mark.

Isak fired a shot at Raya that the Arsenal goalkeeper pushed away before Rice muscled his way into the Newcastle area and flashed a shot wide.

Arteta made further changes, introducing defender Ben White and forward Gabriel Jesus in the desperate push for an equaliser.

Arsenal struggled to build up a head of steam as the clock ticked down but they squandered a golden chance to equalise when Rice headed just wide from a Saka cross in stoppage time.

The Gunners, still missing captain Martin Odegaard, suffered a shock defeat against Bournemouth last month and drew 2-2 with Liverpool last week.

They have tough games coming up against Inter Milan in the Champions League and Chelsea next week.

The win lifts Eddie Howe’s Newcastle to eighth in the table ahead of the later kick-offs on Saturday.

Martin Odegaard has missed Arsenal’s last six games with the injury he suffered last month.© AFP