Pep Guardiola backs Mikel Arteta to turn Arsenal into title contenders
By Tom Gott
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has heaped praise on Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta, admitting the Gunners could soon find themselves battling for the Premier League title.
Arteta spent three years working under Guardiola at City before taking the plunge into first-team management with Arsenal in December 2019, but his first 14 months in the job have been about as turbulent as they could possibly be.
Arteta led Arsenal to FA Cup glory last season but was tipped to lose his job just a few months ago, with the Gunners closer to a relegation battle that the top four, but he has managed to steady the ship and slowly lead his side up the table - something which Guardiola confessed had impressed him.
"I did not inspire him," Guardiola said of his former protegee in the build-up to the meeting between the two sides on Saturday (via Sky Sports News). "What he knows he knows for himself. I am not any influence. What he is doing, all credit to him and his backroom staff.
"All I can say is the last months show me that all managers need time and he is not an exception. What I see in the last two months every game Arsenal played is better than the opponent.
"Tomorrow we will have an incredible performance. They have an exceptional build-up, they have quality and they have energy. They have [Bukayo] Saka, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and all the players with the quality in the middle.
"In the early future, they will be real contenders to fight for the titles. Most of the time [when Arteta and I worked together] we took decisions together and I took decisions with the influence of Mikel. I don't know if I influenced him - he has to answer this."
Arteta has also been incredibly complimentary of City, insisting that Guardiola has built the best team in world football.
"The football they are playing and consistency of results, take all that in and it makes them the best team," Arteta confessed (via BBC Sport).
"They have weaknesses like every team but at the moment teams have struggled a lot to find any of that because I think first of all defensively they have been really, really strong. I think they are the best team in Europe at the moment."