Pep Guardiola had a lot to say about Mikel Arteta and Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s Premier League showdown between the Gunners and Manchester City.
The Citizens travel to North London looking to beat Arteta’s team for the first time since April 2023.
Arsenal defeated Athletic Club in Bilbao on Tuesday night, more than 48 hours before City overcame Napoli in the Champions League at the Etihad.
This extra rest, combined with Arsenal’s excellent form, makes the Gunners the favourites heading into the Emirates encounter, although it’ll most likely be a close game decided by small margins.
Mikel Arteta won’t be thrilled with Pep Guardiola’s comments about Arsenal’s spending
Arsenal spent £250 million on eight players in the summer.
Andrea Berta was intent on providing Arteta with a deep squad which can compete on multiple fronts, and subsequently opted to invest significantly.
The Gunners now have an extremely talented assortment of players who should be capable of reaching the latter stages of the Champions League and potentially of winning the Premier League as well.
This outlandish spending has prompted Guardiola to inadvertently pile the pressure on Arteta to deliver silverware by describing the investments as ‘wise’.
Speaking to the media on Friday, the Manchester City boss also provided a sarcastic comment about Arsenal’s business, based on the fact that he has consistently been accused of spending too much in the past.
“Well, it is what it is,” he said.
“They decide to do it in Arsenal only. I want to say to my friend Mikel Arteta, that if he wins the title it will be just because of spending, not because he works a lot or his players were unbelievable. If Arne wins again, it will be because he spent a lot of money, right? Because it’s not just Man City happened that, right?
“So for all of them, listen, for many, many years every club can do whatever they want, you know. I know how I have been treated is completely different, but what he wants to spend is because they wanted it and it’s fine.
“Only what I can say is they have been wise, they spend what they believe they can do, so they can compete against the best teams in the Premier League and in Europe and that they’ve reached that level.
“I think he found a team in that way, and step by step, window by window, last time is getting better.”
Arsenal’s signings will make more of an impact than Man City’s on Sunday
Summer signings Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri are both out of Sunday’s game, while Omar Marmoush, who arrived at City in January, is also ruled out with an injury.
While Gianluigi Donnarumma and Tijani Reijnders are likely to start for the away side, it will otherwise be a similar team to the one that played at the Emirates last season.
Meanwhile, Arsenal could name as many as five new signings in their starting eleven, all of whom could make a major impact.
Cristhian Mosquera could keep William Saliba out of the side after some impressive performances in recent weeks.
Martin Zubimendi will almost certainly start in midfield, while the Gunners could field their entirely new-look front three for the third game running, with Eberechi Eze, Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke all in contention.
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