Arne Slot has had the third best start of any Premier League manager over his first eight games at a club but he’s no Ole Gunnar Solskjaer…
10) Pep Guardiola (Manchester City, 19 points)
Initially it really did look like Pep Guardiola – much to the chagrin of the ‘he thinks he can come over here…’ brigade – was going to flatten every Premier League team in his path after his arrival along with John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane. Frankly, it looked like a piece of p*** until the seventh game of the season when they got Spursed. Then came 72% possession and two saved penalties to see them emerge with just a point v Everton. Welcome to the Premier League, Pep. They eventually finished a lowly third. Embarrassed for you, Pep.
9) Andre Villas-Boas (Chelsea, 19 points)
Filed under ‘failure’ because he never really got hold of the Chelsea ego machine but Villas-Boas – once the opening-day 0-0 with Stoke was out of the way – actually had an excellent start as Blues boss, with their only defeat coming at Old Trafford. It’s just a shame that it all began to unravel in game nine, with defeat to QPR marked with accusations of racist abuse levelled at captain John Terry. A cowed Villas-Boas was sacked in March.
8) Jose Mourinho (Chelsea, 20 points)
Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea conceded one goal in those eight games. One goal. This was peak Terry/Carvalho territory. And that one goal came after just 12 seconds of an eventual 2-1 win over Southampton. Game 9 would bring defeat to Manchester City and questions about whether this Chelsea team scored enough goals. But all those questions were answered over the following 29 games when Chelsea did not lose another match. Wow.
We have them pegged as the third-best Premier League team ever.
7) Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham, 20 points)
That Tottenham started last season with a 10-match unbeaten run now feels like a fever dream but IT HAPPENED. Without the departed Harry Kane and with excellent new signings James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario, Tottenham looked unstoppable, mate. They beat Manchester United and Liverpool in those first eight heady games that ended with a narrow 10-man victory over Luton that took them top of the actual Premier League. Two months later they were fifth. Fantasy over.
6) Maurizio Sarri (Chelsea, 20 points)
Remember when Sarriball was an innovation that could bring glory back to Chelsea and the spark back to Eden Hazard rather than a dirty word. Chelsea were unbeaten across the first 12 games of the Italian’s reign, though a smattering of draws meant that they never looked like potential champions. Things – as so they often do at Chelsea – soured over the winter months and Sarri left at the end of the season with all happy to part ways. But that start was far better than we remembered.
5) Luiz Felipe Scolari (Chelsea, 20 points)
It’s extraordinary how many Chelsea managers start with a bang, with this iteration of the Blues scoring a ludicrous 19 goals across those first unbeaten eight games, which was enough to see them top the table after a 5-0 win over Gareth Southgate’s Middlesbrough. But Scolari’s style eventually exhausted the Chelsea players and he was out on his ear by early February. Remember when Chelsea sacked managers for being third?
4) John Gregory (Aston Villa, 21 points)
Brian Little resigned (remember when managers resigned?) in February 1998 with Villa looking like outside bets for relegation. Villa decided against a big-name replacement and instead turned to Wycombe manager John Gregory. His first game was a come-from-behind Villa Park win over Liverpool featuring two Stan Collymore goals; the Villa fans were on board. By the end of an eight-game run with a bizarre home defeat to Barnsley the only blip, Villa had moved from 14th to eighth before ending the season in seventh with a place in Europe. Now that’s what we call a new manager bounce.
3) Arne Slot (Liverpool, 21 points)
It’s not been spectacular but they have conceded just three goals in eight games, with home defeat to Nottingham Forest a wake-up call.
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2) Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea, 21 points)
A year after Scolari’s Chelsea began with a bang, Ancelotti’s Chelsea went a step further, winning seven of their first eight games with the only blip coming in a lacklustre performance against Wigan marred by a sending-off. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka were on fire, Terry and Carvalho were resilient, and this was the midfield of Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien. What a bloody team. What a manager. Finally, we have a second set of eventual title winners.
1) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United, 22 points)
The only man to remain unbeaten across his first eight games at a Premier League club. No wonder people were losing their minds and screaming ‘Ole’s at the wheel’. After the dismal days of Jose Mourinho, the smiling face and twinkling eyes of the Norwegian brought joy and freedom to a United side that rose from sixth to, erm, fifth as Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and even Anthony Martial were on fire. How did that end again?
