Arteta backs Arsenal against ‘best coach in the world’ Guardiola،
Mikel Arteta has hailed Pep Guardiola as “the best manager in the world by far” but believes Arsenal are capable of securing a decisive victory at Manchester City to shake up the Premier League title race.
Arsenal have not won in eight visits to the Etihad Stadium since January 2015 – losing seven times – and were beaten 4-1 last April as City overhauled them to retain the league.
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Arteta's long-standing friendship with Guardiola includes three years working in his coaching staff at City before taking charge of Arsenal in December 2019.
“My admiration and how I feel about him certainly hasn’t changed,” Arteta said. “In my opinion he is by far the best coach in the world and he is one of the nicest people I have met in football.
“He’s definitely one of the people I’ve had the most fun and laughter working with. It’s going to stay there forever.
“[At Arsenal]I watched everyone walk around the building and I loved the energy, I loved their smiles and they were happy to be back.
“They wanted to practice yesterday and the way they communicate and interact every day is phenomenal.
“We have done a lot to be in the position we are in, but we have to go day by day, train well, prepare for every game. We have done a lot to be where we are, now we have to accept this position and come on -y.
“You have to take steps forward to get there and I think we've taken big steps in the last few seasons. We're getting a lot closer and now this is how we close that gap and try to be better than them.”
Arsenal held an eight-point lead over City at the start of April last season, only to win two of their last nine games, including damaging draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton as the side Guardiola won his fifth title in six seasons.
Reflecting on how to avoid a similar fate this time around with his side leading Liverpool to the top of the table on goal difference, Arteta said: “There are times. When you are at Anfield and you are leading 2-0 and you end up drawing
“The same position at West Ham, and although you can still win, you miss the penalty. Then there is the game against Southampton where we clearly should have won the game, but many factors did not allow us to do so .
“We had injuries, there was the Sporting match [exiting the Europa League at the round-of-16 stage] and there were many factors. Then the momentum turned negative and we struggled to keep up as they kept winning. They have won 14 or 15 in a row!
“[Sunday] is a huge match for both teams. It will still give us a huge boost if we go there and win. There is still a long, long way to go to gain ground.”
Arteta has confirmed that Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Gabriel Martinelli (foot) and Gabriel Magalhaes (Achilles) could all feature for City if they complete Saturday's training session without any problems.
