Arteta warned to stop copying Pep Guardiola if Arsenal are to ‘beat’ Man City to title

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Sports reporter Lynsey Hooper has now warned Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta that he needs to evolve beyond the influence of Pep Guardiola.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has clearly learned a lot from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

Prior to taking up his first ever managerial role in the Emirates Stadium dugout in December 2019, Arteta had spent the previous three years working as Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad Stadium.

The pair of Spanish coaches enjoyed a close working relationship. Whilst Guardiola has sought to minimise the similarities between himself and Arteta in the past, comparisons are inevitable. Both men enjoyed playing careers in the middle of the park, have historical ties with Barcelona, and now cut expressive and emotional figures on the touchline. 

There are similarities between how Arteta’s Arsenal team and Guardiola’s Manchester City side play, too. Soon after his arrival in north London, Arteta signed Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City. 

The Brazilian striker elevated the level of the Gunners’ pressing, whilst the Ukrainian left-back was able to play his role on the pitch in an inverted fashion, habitually drifting into the midfield zone to become an auxiliary playmaker of sorts. Both of these tactical elements were key features in Manchester City’s play at the time.

More recently, Guardiola’s reigning champions have been playing with a back four comprised of essentially four centre-backs, or at least four physically dominant out-and-out defenders.

This, too, has been adopted by Arsenal on occasion. At times, Arteta has fielded a defensive unit featuring Jakub Kiwior, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, and Ben White. All four of those players have spent a significant chunk, if not all, of their careers playing at centre-back.

Mikel Arteta told to move Arsenal beyond the Pep Guardiola model

Speaking to Arsenal legend David Seaman on the Seaman Says podcast, Lynsey Hooper has now told Arteta that there is a limit on how far he can take the Gunners whilst he is playing tactical catch up behind Guardiola. She said, “the only warning that I would put out there about that is that you don’t want to be the person that’s always one step behind Pep, do you? So like, Pep trials something, then Arsenal do it…But in order to beat Pep at his own game I think you’ve got to do something different to him.”

This is perhaps a somewhat harsh position to take, as there are certainly tactical elements of Arsenal’s play that feel more original to Arteta. For instance, his use of Kai Havertz as a left-eight midfielder, who pushes forward to offer the Gunners an outlet by acting as a kind of target man.

What’s more, Arteta has already beaten Guardiola at his own game. Arsenal trumped over Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in a Premier League clash earlier this season.