Pep Guardiola has ratcheted up the pressure on Mikel Arteta and claimed that it will be difficult to catch up to Arsenal
At the beginning of the season, very few people, if anyone at all, would have expected that Arsenal would be in contention for their first Premier League title since 2004, let alone that they would be ahead of the pack when the new season began in 2023. However, a fascinating fact is that Guardiola’s former student is now the one who stands in the way of the Spaniard winning a fifth domestic trophy in the span of six years.
The Gunners began the week with an eight-point lead over City, but they were held to a painful 0-0 stalemate by third-place Newcastle on Tuesday night. This result left the Gunners frustrated and in a tie for third place. Guardiola has insisted that tracking down his former assistant will be more difficult than it sounds, despite the fact that Manchester City has closed the gap at the top of the table to just five points after their win against a struggling Chelsea.
And the City chief has even said that Arteta and Arsenal may replicate their recent successes by accumulating a hundred points to put a stop to City’s supremacy in the domestic league.
“The way to minimize the deficit is by playing well and winning games,” Guardiola said during a press conference prior to City’s trip to Stamford Bridge. “The way to reduce the gap is by playing good and winning games.” The way that Arsenal have been playing so far indicates that they are going to finish with 100 or more points. If they keep acting in this manner, we will not be able to find them.
“From this point on until the end of the season, I would say we need to be practically perfect, and we need to hope that they will regress a little bit in their performance, since the day before they were outstanding.” We will have to wait and see what unfolds.”
It remains to be seen whether Arteta’s side has the strength in depth to compete with a City side that has been synonymous with success for the majority of Guardiola’s tenure. While Arsenal have been in electric form this season, losing only once, it remains to be seen if they have the ability to compete with City.
The reigning champions of the Premier League are not playing at anything close to their best right now, but they still have a veteran team that has demonstrated a dogged mentality: City has won four titles in the last five years, while Arsenal has only won one FA Cup during Arteta’s tenure as manager and has not won the Premier League crown in almost two decades. City has won four titles in the last five years.
Given that Arteta worked alongside Guardiola for three years before the latter was lured away from the Etihad to take the top job at his former club, he will be more than familiar with how Guardiola operates, and he is unlikely to heed the City chief executive’s words very much. Arteta worked alongside Guardiola for three years before the latter was lured away from the Etihad to take the top job at his former club.