Guardiola’s protege Arteta is now defending champions’ biggest threat

Arsenal Manager, Mikel Arteta (left) and his Man City counterpart, Pep Guardiola, will clash in the fourth round of the English FA Cup…today.

It wasn´t so long ago that Mikel Arteta was widely considered a Manchester City manager-in-waiting, reports mail.co.uk. Now Pep Guardiola´s former assistant has emerged as the greatest threat to his mentor´s Premier League dominance after deciding to go it alone at Arsenal.

“I am pretty sure if I would have left before, he would be here and he would be the best,” Guardiola said yesterday. “But I extended the contract, I am sorry, and he didn´t wait, so it could not happen.”The two men go head-to-head today in the fourth round of the FA Cup at City´s Etihad Stadium with potentially wider-reaching consequences in the context of the title race.

Arsenal is five points ahead of defending champion City at the top of the standings after an outstanding start to the campaign, which has seen the London club win 16 of its 19 games in the league and lose once.

While only a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup is at stake in the match, it could provide a psychological advantage to the winning team. Victory for Arsenal would be further evidence of its title credentials and ability to hold off a City challenge. For City, a win would be a statement of intent – particularly ahead the league meeting between the teams next month.

Guardiola last week warned his players that Arsenal would “destroy” them if their performances didn´t improve in the second half of the season. And while there have been doubts about Arsenal´s ability to maintain a title challenge after failing to even qualify for the Champions League since 2016, City´s manager has repeatedly described the league leaders as the team to beat.

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