“He’s the best coach in the world by a mile,” Mikel Arteta lavishes praise on Pep Guardiola ahead of crunch title clash
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta showered words of praise on Pep Guardiola, hailing him as the best coach in the world. Arsenal and Manchester City will lock horns against each other at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, in what could play a major role in deciding the fate of the Premier League title.
The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are separated by just one point with 10 games to be played. Such are the fine margins this season that neither team can afford to lose the fixture on Sunday. The Gunners have failed to win in the home of the reigning champions since 2015, as they were defeated by Manchester City 4-1 last season.
“My admiration and what I feel for him certainly hasn’t changed. In my opinion he’s the best coach in the world by a mile and he’s one of the nicest people that I’ve met in football. Certainly he’s one of the ones that I’ve had the most fun and laughter working with. That’s going to stay there forever,” said Arteta in the pre-match press conference.
Pep Guardiola confirms start duo out of Arsenal clash
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that both Kyle Walker and John Stones will miss the key clash on Sunday. The Spaniard also stated that Kyle Walker’s recovery process would take a longer time than his teammate. Meanwhile for Arsenal, Mikel Arteta hinted that the trio of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes could feature against City.
Mikel Arteta was also very pleased with the attitude of his players, as they all wanted to train after coming back from the International break. He stated that the Gunners have made some huge progress over the past couple of seasons, and now it is time for them to get the better of Manchester City and Liverpool.
“We have done a lot to be in the position that we are, but we need to go day by day, train well, prepare every match. We’ve done a lot to be where we are now we have to embrace that position and go for it,” said Arteta.
“You have to make strong steps to be there and I think we’ve done big ones in recent seasons. We’re getting much closer and now it’s how we close that gap and try to be better than them,” he added.
