Five Managers who Tested Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal Team

When you have been in the game of management for as long as Arsene Wenger, you will obviously win a lot of plaudits, but you will also face a lot of tough tests. Sometimes you come out with flying colours and sometimes it really does push you to your limits.

Arsene Wenger has spent the majority of his managerial career at Arsenal; in fact, most Premier League followers cannot imagine an Arsenal team without Arsene Wenger at the helm. While that will happen sometime in the future, we can reveal on all the great things the French manager has done for the Gunners.

That incredible season where the Gunners went unbeaten or the fact that Arsenal have had some of the classiest players such as Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. With almost 20 years at Arsenal, we look back at five managers who actually were the ones that pushed and tested Wenger.

Jose Mourinho

The duo hate each other so much that they should write a book on it. Jose Mourinho has called Wenger a ‘voyeur’ and a ‘specialist in failure’ while Arsene has never liked the Portuguese. The war of words continued on this season and now Arsene seems to have a chuckle when it comes to Chelsea’s problems, though he hasn’t commented directly on it, he must be enjoying his sleep at the moment.

Sir Alex Ferguson

Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson will go down as two of the greatest managers from the Premier League era, but their rivalry was a thing to remember. Though they have buried the hatchet now, the pair were at war for most of their time in England with a lot spoken regarding ’pizzagate’ or how Manchester United broke Arsenal’s unbeaten Premier League streak by defeating them with a controversial penalty.

Pep Guardiola

Whether he turns up at Bayern or at Barcelona, Pep has had the better of Arsene over the years. Sure Arsenal might have got a win over Bayern in recent years, but that has often been inconsequential, the recent hammering of Arsenal by Bayern shows the gulf in class between the teams or is it the mental block that Pep has over Arsene when it comes to the big games?

Tony Pulis

When Stoke City were managed by Tony Pulis, you knew what you got. A tough team that would not take no for an answer and would batter you for a result. Most of the top teams struggled to perform at the Britannia, but it was Arsenal that really felt the brunt of Stoke. We all remember the horror injury to Aaron Ramsey all those years ago but Arsenal could not cope with the physical nature of their play and that often irked Arsene, although he did admit there is no bad blood between them.

Alan Pardew

Pardew might not be the most likeable manager in the world, but he has done a great job for Crystal Palace this season and even for Newcastle earlier. Most Newcastle fans will never admit it, but Alan Pardew was one of the people who did well with the club and was able to get the upper hand against Arsene. He might not have defeated them on a regular basis, but when his Newcastle side came back from four goals down to draw 4-4 against the Gunners, you could be sure that he gave Arsene a few nightmares after that.