Mikel Arteta has insisted that Arsenal’s growing rivalry with Manchester City will not impact his friendship with Pep Guardiola.
Arsenal held Manchester City to a 2-2 draw at the Etihad last weekend in a fiery contest that saw clashes between the two sets of players at full-time.
Arteta was involved in a heated exchange with Erling Haaland at the final whistle, while the latter threw the ball in the direction of Gabriel after City’s late equaliser.
The two teams have competed directly for the Premier League title across the last two seasons and look well placed to battle it out once again in 2024/25. However, Arteta has insisted the budding rivalry will not change his relationship with Guardiola, who he worked alongside as part of the Manchester City coaching staff before taking the senior role at Arsenal.
Arteta outlined his ‘love’ and ‘respect’ for Guardiola and said he can separate their sporting contests and off-the-pitch friendship.
“I love him, I respect him, I admire him and his team and everything that he does. This is sport and a personal relationship,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Leicester this weekend.
“If my relationship has to be damaged because one draws and the other one wins when we play against each other, the amount of times that we have lost, then I wouldn’t talk to him anymore.
“It’s sport and it will never get in the way of a personal relationship for sure.”
Arteta pleased with Arsenal in Odegaard absence
Arsenal will again be without Martin Odegaard this weekend, though Arteta has been impressed with how his side have coped in the captain’s absence. The North Londoners have secured results away at Tottenham, Atalanta and Manchester City in successive games.
“If you put them in that scenario before the start of the season, with the calendar we have, the fixtures we had and the three away games and how we got out of that, I would be very, very pleased I think.
“It’s not only Martin, he is one of the players who has more impact in the team in many ways but there were many others as well.
“The team has coped extremely well because we have an exceptional group, a lot of players are taking a different role in the leadership, in their role in the team and they embrace that challenge and I’m really happy for that.”
