They meet as iconoclastic, idiosyncratic figures. Louis van Gaal and Arsene Wenger can be called many things, but each is certainly unique.
No other Premier League managers have ever really travelled down the path either has plotted. They have arrived as exotic outsiders, Wenger to a climate of suspicion and Van Gaal to a euphoric welcome, and then confounded initial expectations. The Arsenal manager was celebrated when his second season at the helm culminated in winning the league and FA Cup double in 1997-98. His Manchester United counterpart has been castigated as his sophomore year seems certain to end in an undignified exit after underachievement.