Mikel Arteta was appointed to lead Arsenal in 2019 after a long time as assistant to Pep Guardiola at Man City. At Emirates, the young Spaniard soon made his mark within 10 months of working when helping the “Gunners” win the FA Cup and the British Super Cup.
It seemed that success would open up beautiful days for Arteta at Arsenal. But at the start of his second season, Arteta faced the risk of being sacked after Arsenal lost all of their opening three matches and finished at the bottom of the Premier League table.
When the future was in question after 20 months in charge, Arteta was protected by his old teacher Pep Guardiola. The former Barcelona coach shared: “Me and Arteta worked together for about 2-3 years. I even learned many things from him. Arteta is a good coach with a wide range of philosophy, personality and top leadership qualities.
Sometimes people expect, even want, changes to have immediate results. All coaches need good players, a squad with depth. I am a huge fan of Arteta. And I’m pretty sure, if Arsenal trust him, he’ll do a good job.”
The Arsenal board may have listened to what Pep Guardiola has to say about Arteta. The heads of the Emirates Stadium team decided to continue to trust Arteta and that faith has paid off. This season, the young Spanish strategist is facing the opportunity to help the “Gunners” end their thirst for the Premier League title after 19 years of waiting.
Indeed, Arsenal is leading the Premier League table when the tournament is only 8 rounds away from closing the curtain. Arteta’s teachers and students are now 6 points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s Man City, but “The Citizens” still has 1 match in hand. It is not difficult to realize that the direct confrontation between the two teams at Etihad in the 33rd round of the English Premier League on April 27 will be meaningful as a “final match” of the season.
If Arsenal win, the “Gunners” are considered to have one hand on the championship. For Arteta personally, the Premier League title is meaningful as a recognition for the leadership talent of the young Spanish strategist.
Man City beat Arsenal 3-1 in the match for round 12 of the English Premier League 2022/23
Since taking charge of Arsenal, Arteta has been constantly compared to Pep Guardiola. For many people, Arteta is likened to a copy of Pep Guardiola. The 41-year-old military leader has turned Arsenal into a team that controls the game and limits the opponent’s chances to play, similar to the football philosophy of his old teacher.
That is also the formula that Pep Guardiola has applied to help Man City dominate the English Premier League over the years, with 4 championships in the last 5 seasons despite the fierce competition of Liverpool. Therefore, Arteta will need to take a lot of time if he wants to get out of the “shadow” of Pep Guardiola.
This season, Arteta has at least once defeated famous colleagues such as Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool, Antonio Conte (Tottenham) and Erik Ten Hag (MU). It is a remarkable achievement for a coach in the early stages of his military career. However, Arteta still could not have fun in front of his old teacher.
Indeed, Arteta has lost to Pep Guardiola in both meetings this season so far, once in the FA Cup and once in the Premier League. Broadly speaking, Arteta only won 1 and lost 7 out of a total of 8 encounters with Pep Guardiola since the young Spanish strategist took charge of Arsenal.
But again and again, the Arsenal squad is a collection of many potential players and clearly cannot be compared with the world-class stars on the Man City side. And when two teams with similar playing styles meet, the quality of the squad will greatly affect the result.
As mentioned above, Arsenal still have 1 match against Man City in the 33rd round of the Premier League on April 27. It will be an opportunity for Arteta to break all the losses against Pep Guardiola, even though he knows that the task is not easy, especially when Man City is playing at Etihad.
Pep Guardiola and Klopp have created a pair of rivals on the coaching bench during recent seasons. Two great strategists have turned the Premier League into a “two-horse” race between Man City and Liverpool.
In the press conference to launch MU last year, coach Ten Hag confidently declared that he could help the “Red Devils” end the era of Man City and Liverpool in the Premier League. Up to the present time of this season, it can be affirmed that what coach Ten Hag said is half correct.
Man City is still in the race to win the Premier League, but Liverpool is no longer themselves when it falls and is struggling to race for the top 4. Few people think that Arsenal has emerged to become a challenger to Man City in the race. champion. The reason is that the “Gunners” are in the rebuilding phase of the squad and are not invested as heavily as Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea or MU.
That highlights the importance of Arteta even more. However, it is still too early to think about the new rivalry between Arteta and Pep Guardiola. Arteta is in the early stages of his military career, while Pep Guardiola has built a name. Assuming Arteta will help Arsenal win the Premier League this season, whether he will help the “Gunners” maintain the dominance Pep did for Man City is also a question mark.
Next season, Arteta is expected to face a much bigger challenge because Arsenal will return to the prestigious Champions League arena. And yet, rivals such as Liverpool, Chelsea, MU, Tottenham and even the “emerging giants” Newcastle have all planned to add strong forces at this summer market to compete for the championship.
