As expected, Mikel Arteta has been nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month award.
This comes as no surprise following Arsenal's victories in August over Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Bournemouth, Fulham and Aston Villa which meant they ended the month at the top of the table and were the only side in the division with a 100 per cent winning record at the time.
And on Thursday came the announcement that Arteta's achievements had been recognised: "After guiding us to five wins from five at the start of the season, Mikel Arteta is in contention to be named Premier League Manager of the Month for August, and your votes can help him claim the prize," a statement on Arsenal.com reads.
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"The boss has been acknowledged after our 100 per cent start saw us win every game during the month, with Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Bournemouth, Fulham and Aston Villa all beaten to leave us top of the fledgling Premier League table, and making the Spaniard just the second Arsenal manager after Arsene Wenger to start a season with five Premier League wins."
Facing competition from Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Graham Potter - now of Chelsea - and Marco Silva, Arsenal supporters can vote for the Spaniard to come out on top via the Premier League's official website with the winner to be revealed at some point after September 12.
Whilst Arteta can take great pride if he is named Manager of the Month for August, he must avoid what happened to Portuguese tactician Nuno Espirito Santo who picked up the award just under a year ago after enjoying a flying start to life as Tottenham Hotspur head coach.
The Lilywhites were top of the table after three games with nine points and hadn't conceded a single goal despite playing Manchester City, Wolves and Watford. Although. much to the delight of Arsenal fans, it went downhill after Nuno was named Manager of the Month as his side went on to lose all three games in September - including a 3-1 loss at the Emirates Stadium.
Furthermore, similar happened to Thomas Tuchel after winning the award last October as his Chelsea side went on to claim one win from three games the following month and then struggled over the festive period which ultimately saw them slip out of contention for the Premier League title.
But Arteta just needs to look at his own experiences with the award after claiming it twice last season. Following a perfect September, there were draws with Brighton and Crystal Palace before beating Aston Villa and Leicester. However, what happened after winning it in March may still haunt him to this very day.
As soon as he won the award the Gunners went on to lose three games in a row against Palace, Brighton and Southampton. Had the north London outfit won just one of those they very well could have been in the Champions League this season having missed out on a top-four finish by two points.
For his side to maintain their impressive start to the season, Arteta can't afford for the Manager of the Month 'curse' to strike again if he claims the award as Arsenal are scheduled to face Brentford next weekend which proceeds a dreaded set of fixtures in October with clashes against Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester City.
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