The Spanish tactician is closing in on another mark in the English game, this time from his greatest rival
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is on track to set another Premier League record, with one of Jose Mourinho’s marks in his sights.
Fresh from becoming the first manager to win the English domestic treble with the Citizens last season, Guardiola is closing in on the record for least amount of matches required to get 100 Premier League wins.
Mourinho currently holds that record from his time at Chelsea, with his first 100 wins coming in only 142 league matches in charge of the Stamford Bridge club.
But Guardiola looks set to surpass that mark as he currently has 87 wins from 114 games – meaning he only needs 13 victories in the next 27 matches to eclipse Mourinho’s mark.
Unless disaster strikes at the Etihad, Guardiola will also eclipse the games it took to reach 100 wins for Sir Alex Ferguson (162), Arsene Wenger (179), Rafa Benitez (181) and Claudio Ranieri (187).
If the Spanish tactician maintains his current win rate with City, it will only take 17 matches for him reach 100 victories, meaning he will set a new mark of 131 games to reach the century – which is 11 quicker than Mourinho.
There is one record that Guardiola cannot take off Mourinho – and that’s the most points earned in the first 100 Premier League matches – with the City boss picking up the same amount of wins as his managerial rival (73) but finishing with three less points (234) courtesy of having more draws.
Manchester City can win their first trophy of the campaign on Sunday when they take on Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley.
Their Premier League campaign begins with a trip to London to face West Ham before a home game against Tottenham, the team that vanquished the Sky Blues in last season’s Champions League quarter-final.
Guardiola will be bidding to become the second manager in Premier League history, after Ferguson, to win three successive league titles – a mark Guardiola achieved in La Liga with Barcelona (2008-11) and with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich (2013-16).
Ferguson achieved the Premier League title hat-trick with Manchester United twice – winning the trophy between 1998-2001 and 2006-09.
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