Mikel Arteta has now guided Arsenal to a unique Premier League achievement against Manchester City and Liverpool this season.
Arsenal earned their fourth point of campaign against Manchester City on Sunday evening.
Earlier on in the season, the Gunners earned three points against the reigning champions with a 1-0 win at the Emirates Stadium. On Sunday evening, at the Etihad Stadium, they ground out a 0-0 draw against Pep Guardiola’s men.
This result marked the first time since 2016 that Arsenal have taken a point on the road against Manchester City.
Arsenal make progress from painful past defeat to Man City
Last season, the Gunners were beaten by Manchester City home and away. It was their 4-1 defeat in the north west during the run-in that effectively killed off their title hopes. Arsenal would ultimately miss out on top spot by a five point margin.
Of course, in this fixture last season, when the north London club’s title hopes were devastated, they were without the then-injured William Saliba. The French centre-back was fit for the trip to the north west this time around and produced a masterful display.
After the final whistle last night, Arsenal club captain Martin Odegaard hailed Saliba’s “brilliant” display, and recalled how critical his absence was in this fixture last season.
Arsenal have now shown that they belong at the very top, and that they can go toe-to-toe with both Manchester City and current league leaders Liverpool for the top prizes.
Mikel Arteta achieves Premier League first against Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp
Arsenal have played both the Cityzens and the Reds at home and away now in the Premier League this season, and have remained unbeaten across all four encounters, taking eight points from a possible twelve.
Both Manchester City and Liverpool lost on their visits to the Emirates Stadium, and could only draw against the Gunners on their own patch.
This is an astonishing achievement and shows just how far the club have come under Mikel Arteta. It is only in very recent history that Arsenal were used to being regularly thrashed by the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.
It is also a unique achievement, as with Sunday’s goalless stalemate, Arteta became the first manager to ever go through a Premier League campaign unbeaten against both Guardiola’s Manchester City side and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, as reported by now.arsenal.
Those two managers have been dominant in the top flight of English football since they both came to the league. Arteta, though, has clearly now got the measure of them and has built a squad capable of standing its ground against the very best.
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