Pep Guardiola would have been delighted to witness both Arsenal and Liverpool drop points in their pulsating 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
Guardiola admitted that he would tune into the contest between Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot’s sides.
The Manchester City boss said via HaytersTV: “I will watch it. I prefer to be on top than not to be at the top but it’s not important. Look at what happened today, Aston Villa dropped points and Brighton dropped points because it’s so difficult.”
Manchester City fans were ecstatic about Arsenal and Liverpool’s draw as they remain the Premier League leaders as Mohamed Salah’s 81st minute-goal meant the visitors took home a point.
City are now a point ahead of Liverpool and five above Arsenal after nine games.
Pep Guardiola’s side that they are yet to even fully kick into gear.
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Perhaps the same can be said about Arsenal and Liverpool as well.
However, as Guardiola stated, he would always prefer looking at the league table and seeing the Premier League winners’ name at the top.
After Arsenal and Liverpool shared the spoils on Sunday, Jamie Carragher initially claimed that Mikel Arteta is more similar to Jose Mourinho than Pep Guardiola on Sky Sports.
“Mikel Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola. We’re almost thinking this is a Pep Guardiola disciple.”
“And if you look at probably the two most successful managers, let’s say in the last 10, 15 years, you’ve got Pep Guardiola here with a certain style of football and you’ve got Jose Mourinho, almost equally as successful at the other end.”
“Mikel Arteta is slowly morphing into a Jose Mourinho type of manager and no one really thought that would happen. I just think it’s really interesting how they’ve got there.”
Jamie Carragher suggested that how a Mourinho team often sit back and soak the pressure due to their pragmatic ways, Mikel Arteta often does the same unlike Pep Guardiola, who tends to go for the kill regardless of the situation.
“So, you see today, 2-1 up, pressing Liverpool, on top of Liverpool, playing really well but they retreat second half. I know they had a couple injuries at the back but they’ve still got the midfield players playing, they’ve still got the midfield players playing, they’ve still got some attacking players playing, who you think, can you get on the ball?”
“Can you go forward and try and take the sting out of the pressure you’re under?”
Carragher added: “That’s coming from the manager. But it happens too often now, we see it with 10 men. I get what happened at City. I thought what they did against City was brilliant, I commentated on the game, enjoyed watching it. But what they did here against Brighton, what they were doing against Bournemouth last week.”
“Top teams I’ve seen before go down to 10 men, I go back to my own experience as well. Yeah, you’re under pressure but you keep the ball a bit more, you relieve it, you’re still a threat going forward.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko revealed the “main difference” between Guardiola and Arteta
Alongside Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko is the only other player in football who has been managed by both Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola.
As a result, the Ukrainian international has a deep understanding of how both managers work behind the scenes.
In January, Zinchenko claimed Arteta lacks Guardiola’s “experience” as the biggest difference between the pair with the two-time treble-winner’s history of managing big clubs giving him an edge in terms of knowing how to handle every type of situation.
The versatile defender explained: “Both of them, they love to win. They are just going to give everything to win the game, it doesn’t matter which competition it is, friendly or whatever, both pay attention to the small details.”
“Of course, Pep Guardiola has more experience, he’s worked with such big clubs in the past and when you have experience, you see the situations thousands of times and you know how to react to each one. I’m not saying Mikel doesn’t know, of course, he knows how to react to the situations, but it’s all about experience.”
“I think that’s the main difference between them but I’m sure that Mikel is going to have his own legacy for sure and an amazing future.”
Perhaps Manchester City could beat Arsenal to yet another league title due to Pep Guardiola’s superior pedigree, experience and willingness to put teams to the sword.
Mikel Arteta’s side have dropped crucial points to Brighton & Hove Albion, AFC Bournemouth and Liverpool in games where they could have won.
Against Brighton and Bournemouth, as Jamie Carragher explained, perhaps the Gunners could have still managed to get the all-important three points by playing their natural game despite getting a man sent off.
In the first half, Arsenal dominated Liverpool as they were into the half-time break leading 2-1.
But the hosts seemingly held back their attacking instincts, which gave the Reds the chance to impose themselves and eventually get a result.
Whether Arteta’s seeming habit to be extremely defensive at times could suit a Guardiola side that look to win any game against any side in the world no matter what the circumstances are.
