Thursday 11 August 2016 15:00, UK
This season the Premier League is packed with big-name managers with big reputations - but how do their head-to-head records compare?
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has compared the 2016/17 campaign to a "world championship of managers" and with Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Antonio Conte with Chelsea joining Wenger, Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino and Claudio Ranieri of reigning champions Leicester, there are mouth-watering contests ahead.
Here, we take a look at how those managers have got on when they've come face-to-face in the past...
Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho will get his first taste of the Manchester derby at the start of September - and the fixture will see the Portuguese clash with his old rival Pep Guardiola for the first time in the Premier League. The pair have had a running feud for a number of years, but Guardiola has the better record, winning seven and losing just three of their 16 meetings. Mourinho, though, would point out one of his wins helped his Inter Milan side into a Champions League final, another was in a Copa del Rey final, and the third all-but wrapped up a La Liga title triumph.
There aren't many managers who have such a superior record over Mourinho, although Jurgen Klopp also has three wins from his five meetings with the Manchester United boss. Mourinho has won eight out of 10 matches with Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino and eight out of 15 clashes with Arsenal's Arsene Wenger. There's nothing to split his record against Claudio Ranieri and Antonio Conte, though.
Arsene Wenger
Clashes between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho are always intriguing affairs - unfortunately for the Arsenal man, he's come out on the wrong end of the results on more occasions than not. Wenger has beaten Mourinho just once in their 15 meetings, losing eight times.
Wenger also has a losing record against Pep Guardiola, but has had the better of his meetings with the other managers on this list. The Frenchman has only beaten Tottenham rival Mauricio Pochettino twice, Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp three times and, remarkably, dispatched Claudio Ranieri outfits nine times out of 15 meetings, losing just once to the Italian.
Pep Guardiola
New Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is yet to face Claudio Ranieri or Antonio Conte in a competitive fixture but boasts a winning record over Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino. Guardiola's Manchester rival Mourinho has suffered the most defeats at the Spaniard's hands, losing seven of 16 encounters, while both Wenger and Pochettino have lost at least half of their matches against Guardiola teams.
Jurgen Klopp, who spent two seasons going head-to-head with then-Bayern Munich boss Guardiola in the Bundesliga with his Borussia Dortmund team, has had the most success. The German has won three of eight meetings with Guardiola but, like Wenger, has lost four times to the Spaniard.
Jurgen Klopp
Klopp's Liverpool drew both Premier League match-ups with Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham last season and won one, lost one against Claudio Ranieri's title-winning Leicester, while Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger maintained his superior record over Klopp thanks to two league draws between their respective sides.
Of the managers featured here, Jose Mourinho is the only opponent Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has a winning record against, having emerged victorious from three of their five meetings. The German has also won three of his encounters with new City boss Pep Guardiola - but he has also been beaten four times by his former Bundesliga rival.
Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino has suffered against Jose Mourinho in the past, losing eight of 10 meetings with the Manchester United boss. The pair meet in early December, when Pochettino will be hoping to add to his solitary win against the Portuguese, which came in Tottenham's 5-3 New Year's Day victory over Chelsea in 2015.
Pochettino also has losing records against Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger, while he's traded wins and draws in four meetings with Claudio Ranieri and tied both Premier League games last season with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.
Antonio Conte
New Chelsea boss Antonio Conte will be stepping into the unknown against many of the Premier League's elite managers because he's only come up against Jose Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri in the past.
Conte drew his solitary match-up with Mourinho but won two of his three matches against Ranieri - a record he'll be eager to maintain in the new season.
Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri has only beaten one of the managers featured here more than once - and his second victory over Jose Mourinho last December cost the Portuguese his job. As well as those two wins, Ranieri has drawn twice and lost twice to Mourinho.
Ranieri has a particularly poor history against Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, having lost nine of 15 meetings, and also has a losing record against Antonio Conte, while he's tasted both victory and defeat against Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino.
