Unai Emery may not have much experience of English football but he faces a familiar foe when West Ham arrive at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
More than 18 years separate Emery and Manuel Pellegrini in age but their paths have crossed repeatedly since Arsenal’s coach took his first foray into management in 2004.
During his time with Almeria, Valencia and Sevilla, Emery faced Pellegrini in charge of Villarreal, Real Madrid, Malaga and Manchester City, who won both encounters when they met in the 2015-16 Champions League.
Emery has just four wins from their 12 League and European meetings but of all the unknowns the 46-year-old is dealing with as he adjusts to life in north London, the sight of Pellegrini in the opposite dugout will present him with a familiar challenge.
They also have more in common than it would first appear. Both are seeking to consign a turbulent period for their new team to history.
The disconnect between fans and club manifested itself in different ways last term: anger turned to apathy in north London as swathes of empty seats provided the backdrop to perennial frustration under Arsene Wenger. Across town, anger turned into violence as the London Stadium witnessed ugly scenes as the Hammers lost 3-0 against Burnley in March.
Pellegrini and nine new players — costing almost £100mililon — have been charged with changing the atmosphere and part of the mission is to deliver a more attacking style after the short-term functionality of David Moyes.
The 64-year-old’s insistence on playing with a high defensive line is mirrored by Emery. Neither side has looked comfortable to date but it is a testament to the grand designs each have that they did not initially pursue a more pragmatic approach when posed difficult questions at the outset by the fixture computer.
Pellegrini made the task of beating Liverpool at Anfield almost more difficult by squeezing his team up the pitch but he did so in the belief it will better serve them over time; that theory suffered a setback when surrendering a 1-0 lead to lose against Bournemouth last weekend.
Emery did something similar against City and Chelsea, contributing to a basketball style opening 45 minutes at Stamford Bridge after which they could have been 4-0 down and then 6-2 up.
Saturday's game could therefore be equally enthralling, with both managers searching for a result to vindicate their methods. Emery is not expecting an easy ride. “[Pellegrini has] very good experience, a big manager in the world and he started in Argentina, then Chile, for that also he tried Manchester City,” he told Standard Sport.
“He knows the Premier League and my experience with him is a lot. [I’ve] won, lost and he is going to prepare well for the match. He is going to [organise] the opposition and make it difficult.”
And for his part, Pellegrini is not about to abandon that high line. “We are not going to change too many things, I don’t think we need to at this moment,” he said. “We need to trust one way which we must play and then let the players put in the performance.”
Much of the focus will be on Jack Wilshere as he returns to the club where he spent 17 years, a period Emery revealed yesterday ended in a 15-minute meeting as the 26-year-old was told he would not be a first-team regular.
Former Gunners Lukasz Fabianski and Lucas Perez also return with a point to prove. It is four years since Fabianski left but it is not even four weeks since Perez ended a frustrating two-year spell.
Perez has a good reputation in Spain but is determined to reinvent himself in England. Emery and Pellegrini will sympathise.