Carlos Cuesta, another key member of the coaching setup, left last summer to pursue his own managerial ambitions. The Premier League’s assistant manager curseHistory isn’t kind to Premier League champions who lose key members of their coaching staff. When Arteta himself left Manchester City in 2019, City failed to retain their title the following season, trailing Liverpool by 18 points. Juanma Lillo left City last summer, and although they weren’t the defending champions, Guardiola still fell short in the league after bringing in Pep Lijnders as a replacement. Stuivenberg has been vital to what Arsenal have built under Arteta, having joined at the same time in December 2019.