Arabic version: أرتيتا يصل إلى 250 مباراة في الدوري مع أرسنال

According to BBC News, Mikel Arteta became the 10th manager to take charge of 250 Premier League matches for one club when Arsenal beat Aston Villa 1-0 on Monday. The result was Arteta’s 250th top-flight game with the Gunners, who are the reigning champions.

Arteta joins a group that includes Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola. He has the fourth-best win percentage among the managers to have reached that milestone with a single club, behind Guardiola, Ferguson and Jurgen Klopp. Arteta is also the second person to both play and manage at least 250 Premier League games, after Mark Hughes.

Arsenal’s win at Villa Park again highlighted their defensive record. Bukayo Saka scored the only goal in the second half, while Aston Villa did not have a shot on target. Arsenal have faced only three shots on target across their first two league matches of the season. They conceded the fewest goals in the league during last season’s title-winning campaign.

Thierry Henry said Arsenal defend and attack as a team, adding that every player has to run. Since the start of March, Arsenal have kept eight Premier League clean sheets, three more than any other side. David Raya has won the Golden Glove for most clean sheets in each of the past three seasons, while William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have been voted into the PFA team of the year in each of those seasons.

Arsenal have already spent about £200m this year, including deals involving Piero Hincapie, Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Ezri Konsa. Arteta said the club would try to improve the squad until Tuesday night, while noting that he had been focused on the Aston Villa match. Arsenal had an unsuccessful pursuit of Vinicius Jr and retain a long-standing interest in Julian Alvarez.