By Matthew Cooper
Pep Guardiola was always convinced Mikel Arteta would do an excellent job at Arsenal.
The pair worked together for several years at Manchester City, with Arteta named as one of Guardiola's assistants following his retirement from playing in 2016. Arteta then returned to Arsenal as manager in December 2019 following the sacking of Unai Emery.
At the time, he received great support from Guardiola who hailed the Spaniard's tactical nous when asked about his start to life as Gunners boss back in March 2020.
"I was convinced he would be a manager when the opportunity comes and this was the opportunity for him," Guardiola. "His ideas are already in the team, his positional play is getting better. I'm convinced Arsenal will get better."
And four years on from those comments, Arteta has now transformed Arsenal into a side going toe-to-toe with Guardiola's City in the Premier League title race. Although the Gunners ultimately fell five points short of City last season, they are currently neck-and-neck in a three-horse race this season.
Just one point currently separates Arsenal, Liverpool and City and Guardiola suggested earlier this month that he believes Arteta's men to be more dangerous than Jurgen Klopp's. Speaking ahead of City's 1-1 draw against Liverpool last weekend, Guardiola said: " Arsenal are already there.
"Last season they were the biggest rivals, not Liverpool. And look how they are still playing. Liverpool need 90 minutes to win the games, sometimes more than 90 minutes to win the games. Arsenal only need 25 minutes to win games."
City are set to host Arsenal at the end of the month in what could potentially be a title-defining clash and Bukayo Saka is confident about the Gunners' chances. "We can [beat City]," he told TNT Sports.
"Right now, we're top of the league and we're into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and we're going into the international break. So that gives us a lot of momentum, a lot of belief that we can go to the Etihad and get a good result going into these games."
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