DECLARATION OF WAR: Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta responds to Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola
Mikel Arteta has responded to Pep Guardiola after the Manchester City boss gave a fiery press conference about Arsenal.
The two sides drew 2-2 at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday, with the match packed full of controversial moments.
Nerves flared during the clash as City’s leading scorer Erling Haaland threw the ball at Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and directed heated words at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after the final whistle, asking him to “stay humble”.
Brazil’s Gabriel said Arsenal were waiting for City to visit them, with the rivalry between last season’s top two teams heating up.
“Gabriel said it perfectly in the press after the match: this is a war, we (are) here to provoke the opponent, push them,” Guardiola told reporters when asked about Haaland’s actions.
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“And at the end, what can you do? You provoke me? OK, I’m there. You want a war? Now we war… The type of challenge that Arsenal challenges, I understand it.”
However, coach Arteta responded that he had a deep admiration for Guardiola and that their new rivalry should not tarnish the years he spent as his assistant at City.
“I love Pep, I’ve admired him since I was 10-years-old. I respect him profoundly, I am so grateful for everything he did for me and continues to do for me and I consider him a friend,” the manager said after Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Leicester City on Saturday.
“If someone wants to damage the relationship that’s not in my hands but that feeling is profound, he knows it, the staff knows it because I still maintain with them today, with the board, with the ownership, with everyone.”
Arteta added that the thirst for victory is a natural reaction in sport as his side seek to conquer the Premier League as much as City have done, something he finds inspiring.
“I haven’t seen a human being work as hard as Pep and the coaches and everybody in that football club is consistently winning and the reason they are there is because they continue to maintain that hunger,” the Spaniard added.
City midfielder Bernardo Silva claimed after the match that only one team had come to the Etihad Stadium to play football, despite City going 2-1 down to the Gunners at half-time.
When asked to respond to those comments in his pre-Leicester press conference on Friday, Arteta said: “No comment. I have been there before.
“I was there for four years – I have all the information. So I know. Believe me.”
Guardiola, though, wasn’t impressed with that statement, and said in his own press conference before City’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle: “Next time, Mikel has to be clear exactly what he means by, he’s been here four years and he knows exactly what happens here.
“It can be related to all the processes now, the charges. Maybe it’s about that, the information about that.
“I have a good relation with him. Hopefully he can explain exactly what he means when he says he’s here and he knows what happens here.”
The back-and-forth continued after Arsenal defeated Leicester 4-2 at the Emirates Stadium, with Arteta again offered a right of reply.
And he said: “When I say I know stuff about Man City, I meant I know how hard they work. This is what I mean.
“I can repeat it very clear – I love Pep, I admire Pep, I respect him so fondly for everything he does for me. I consider him a friend.”
