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Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta have offered up two very different managerial approaches with regards to the expectations placed upon their star men.

The Spanish pair spent almost three-and-a-half years together at Manchester City between 2016 and 2019 yet clearly harbour their own preferences when it comes to managing their players.

Hours after Arteta oversaw his Arsenal side's 3-2 win at Watford in the latest episode of their recent resurgence, Guardiola masterminded City's 4-1 humiliation of fierce rivals Manchester United.

However, in the build-up to their respective Premier League clashes, the two managers addressed the expectations of two of their key players in contrasting fashion.

Following his FA Cup exploits in City's 2-0 triumph over Peterborough in midweek, Guardiola's £100million Jack Grealish expressed his desire to improve his goal tally.

The England international admitted: “I expect more, I want to get a lot more.”

However, in response to Grealish's proclamation, his manager was quick to dismiss talk of statistics, stating that there is far more to the midfielder's game than numbers.

"Maybe he's wrong. Maybe he listens too much to what people say," Guardiola declared. "It's wrong but the statistics are better and he plays quite similar to Aston Villa in terms of ball contact.

"We didn't buy him to score 45 goals. He doesn't have that quality, he has another one.

"Always we talk about the statistics – the players today play for