Man City boss Pep Guardiola disagrees with Mikel Arteta comparison

Pep Guardiola dismissed his influence on Mikel Arteta as the former colleagues prepare to meet again as rivals.

Arsenal boss Arteta served as Guardiola's assistant for over three years at Manchester City before taking the hot seat at the Emirates, where he has turned the Gunners into title contenders who led the Premier League for most of last season before ultimately being overtaken by the Blues. Both teams have started well again, with Sunday's game seen as an early test of who could go the distance this time.

From style of play to inverted full-backs to making big, unpopular decisions with his squad, Arteta has drawn many comparisons with Guardiola during his time as Arsenal manager and is seen as one of the apprentices to the Catalan master. However, speaking ahead of the Premier League game Guardiola said that the teaching and learning was the other way around.

ALSO READ: Everything Pep Guardiola said in Man City press conference ahead of Arsenal

ALSO READ: Pep Guardiola explains how Man City will approach Arsenal challenge

“He has a father and mother completely different and have their own personality. All the success he has belongs absolutely to Mikel and his people at Arsenal, not me," said Guardiola.

"People say, ‘oh, he was with Pep and learned a lot’. I learned a lot from him.

"The people say always I have to teach my assistant coaches; I bring the assistant coaches here to teach me. But I am here, the figure in front of the microphone and have to talk about the excellences that we do as Manchester City but I learn like the players.

"The people believe we teach the players but we learn off them to take the decisions many times. All of the success and good things about Mikel belongs to him, his genetics