The stat that confirms Michael Carrick to be a better manager than Sir Alex Ferguson

Michael Carrick cannot do much more to convince Manchester United of his credentials to be given the permanent manager’s job…

The interim boss has led United into a dozen Premier League battles, winning eight, drawing three, losing only one.

If we choose to ignore the sample size – for the purposes of this, we most certainly are – that record makes Carrick the Premier League’s second-best manager of all-time.

Here are the top 10 bosses for points per game achieved in the Premier League…

The Brazilian only bossed 25 games after replacing Avram Grant but so high were the standards under Roman Abramovich, Scolari’s 49 points after 25 games which had Chelsea in fourth in February 2009 was viewed as a failure.

We’d love to know what the Russian oligarch would have made of Liam Rosenior .

A haul of 1627 points wasn’t bad for Arsenal’s ‘specialist in failure’.

Only Sir Alex Ferguson – the second-ranked Manchester United manager on this list – accumulated more points in total but no one has managed more Premier League games than Wenger’s 828.

Arteta has edged ahead of Wenger in terms of PPG, but let’s talk again when he’s managed half the games Wenger did. Right now, he’s close to 30 per cent of the Frenchman’s total.

Mourinho’s ranking here is based on the average of his reigns with three different clubs: Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

His PPG with Chelsea is 2.19 which would put him second on this list. But Mourinho, like so many, is dragged down by United (1.89) and Tottenham (1.64).

It’s a similar story of Spurs woe for Conte, though the difference is not as stark for the Italian, who won the title with Chelsea on the way to a 2.14 ppg average, while at Spurs, he won 1.88 ppg.

Roberto Di Zerbi might kill for that – perhaps literally – between now and the end of the season.

Mancini’s City reign is just ahead of Manuel Pellegrini’s in the Premier League , even if the Chilean’s looks better on paper in all competitions.

But Pellegrini blotted his copybook by managing West Ham. But for that ill-fated spell, he would be sitting between Wenger and Arteta here.

Klopp’s league record is even better than Sir Kenny Dalglish’s 2.07ppg in the pre-Prem era.

Dalglish’s average over his two spells in charge is 1.80 ppg. No sign of statue or stand in Klopp’s honour, though.

Fergie has both at Old Trafford, which seems right given what he inspired United to achieve. In the pre-Prem era, though, his record is 1.60 ppg, making for a combined 1.89, which confirms him to be a massive fraud.

The only correct course of action now is to melt down his statue and mould one instead of…

Yes, Carrick has managed 1.5% of the number of Premier League games Ferguson did, and 0.8% of the Manchester United matches in total, but that sample is more than enough to conclude that the apprentice has clearly become the master.

Just the 848 points so far for Guardiola in 372 matches. Will it be 380 and out?

Across his entire managerial career, Pep’s record is even better: 232 ppg in 991 matches in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City.