Mikel Arteta’s surprise title challengers are flying. Arsenal sit five points clear of Man City with a game in hand after Sunday’s dramatic 3-2 win against Man United.
The Spaniard – who spent more than three years as Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad between 2016-2019 – is showing why he’s always been so highly-rated as a coach.
Understandably, with Arsenal’s success and Arteta’s experience under the City boss, there have been several parallels made between the sides over recent months regarding the way they play.
Arsenal are flying high at the top of the Premier League table, five points clear of Man City
Mikel Arteta spent more than three years as assistant manager to Pep Guardiola at City
‘It’s Arsenal’s title to throw away now,’ Paul Merson said earlier this month after the Gunners dispatched Tottenham 2-0 to go eight points clear in the Premier League.
‘That first half performance was like watching Man City. If you had been living in New Zealand and hadn’t seen football for four years and they were in light blue – you’d have thought that was Man City.’
Guardiola and Arteta enjoyed an immensely positive working relationship during their time together and have regularly spoken about their mutual admiration for each other, with the Gunners boss calling Guardiola his ‘idol’ in the past.
City won two Premier League titles in three seasons when Arteta was assistant at the Etihad before he left to take the Arsenal hot seat in December 2019.
Arteta left City to become Arsenal manager more than three years ago in December 2019
With Arteta returning to a club where he made 150 appearances over five years, including a spell as captain, it is clear it was a job he was always keen for at a team close to his heart.
In fact, Guardiola has since revealed how Arteta was so passionate about his former club, he wouldn’t celebrate when City scored against the Gunners.
‘I know he went to his club. The team he dreams of,’ he told his pre-match press conference ahead of this Friday’s FA Cup fourth round tie between the teams.
‘He’s a supporter, he was a captain there. He loves the club. I remember here when we scored goals he jumped a lot except against one team.
‘He was sitting there – it was Arsenal. I said “that guy likes Arsenal”.’
During their time working together at City, Guardiola’s side won two league titles in three years
After a slow re-building process, that has required significant patience from the Arsenal faithful, the Gunners became just the fifth team in Premier League history to reach 50 points after 19 games last week.
It has led to many proclaiming how Arteta has turned from the student to the master, with his former master now desperately chasing him down in an attempt to retain the title.
The top two sides still have to play each other twice in the league but they face this potentially crucial cup tie tonight, with a chance to strike a psychological blow on their title rival.
In light of that, Sportsmail looks at what Arteta has learnt from Guardiola that led to him turning the Gunners into title challengers.
Arteta continues to impress in the Gunners hot seat after he learned plenty from Guardiola
The use of inverted full-backs
The term ‘inverted full-back’ has become synonymous with Guardiola ever since he came to English football with the Spaniard known for playing the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo as one during his time at City.
So when Arsenal brought in Zinchenko for £30m in the summer, Arteta has used the Ukrainian in this role to help transform the team.
Despite being on the team-sheet at left-back, Zinchenko tucks infield to join Thomas Partey in midfield, allowing Granit Xhaka to push forward and join Martin Odegaard in more attacking areas.
This effectively creates a box of four midfielders, enabling the Gunners to overload central areas and dominate games, while they have also become more flexible and unpredictable in midfield as a result
Arteta’s use of Oleksandr Zinchenko as an inverted left-back has had a huge impact on Arsenal
Zinchenko is extremely technically sound and his impact was exemplified by his role in Eddie Nketiah’s winner against Manchester United.
The use of full-backs has been seen on the other side too, with Ben White – a natural centre-back, featuring in a similar role to the one Kyle Walker has performed over recent years for City.
Like Walker, White often comes inside to act as a third centre-back which provides extra defensive solidity on the transition.
But White has also shown his attacking prowess at times when he has overlapped Bukayo Saka and, along with Zinchenko, the pair have been crucial in the Gunners’ success.
Ben White has also impressed at right-back, with the natural centre-back tucking in at times
The role of the keeper
City goalkeeper Ederson is widely-regarded as the best Premier League goalkeeper on the ball and he is crucial to their build-up play.
Arteta was ruthless in his decision to replace Bernd Leno – an impressive shot stopper and a German international – with Aaron Ramsdale, partly as a result of the German’s limited ability on the ball.
Ramsdale has been hugely improved in all facets of his game, winning Player of the Match against Tottenham this month after several fine saves in the Gunners’ 2-0 win.
But his technical quality has also shone through, with the standard Arsenal kick off routine seeing the ball played back to the former Sheffield United keeper, showing how highly his skills are valued.
Aaron Ramsdale’s ability on the ball has been another major factor in the Gunners’ success
Ramsdale has completed 23.68 passes-per-match this season, which is more than Ederson’s 22.21.
The Gunners No.1 has 85 accurate long balls, which Ederson beats with 96 – although Ramdsale is one ahead of Liverpool stopper Alisson – another keeper renowned for his ability on the ball.
Nevertheless, Ramsdale’s stats show how important he has become to Arsenal’s build-up play and it is another facet of Arteta’s side that has been replicated from his City days.
Arteta and Guardiola have significant mutual respect for each other as coaches and as people
Taking two key players
Along with the tactical facets that Arteta has taken from Guardiola to implement with the Gunners, he also showed shrewd recruitment to prize away Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko.
City were happy to let both players leave due to their desire to play more football but they have been significant in Arsenal’s surge to the top of the table.
Not only have they brought an elite-winning mentality to the club, but City have struggled to deal without them.
Arsenal’s signings of Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus has had a transformative impact on them
There has been a major problem on the left-side of their defence, with Cancelo’s form falling off a cliff, and Sergio Gomez – who came in to replace Zinchenko – flattering to deceive.
Both Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake have also featured at left-back in recent weeks but the pair are more comfortable at centre-back.
Elsewhere, Jesus’s versatility, pace and work-rate was vital to City during his five-year stay during in which he scored 95 goals.
The Brazilian’s absence has been sorely felt at the Etihad with Guardiola’s side now lacking pace and width on the wing to stretch games and they are sometimes struggling to break teams down as a result.
City meanwhile have struggled to replace both players, and have major problems at left-back
Adopting the David Silva role
David Silva will go down as one of the modern-day Premier League greats, winning four Premier League titles and racking up 436 appearances during his 10-year-spell with City.
He was indispensable in a left-sided No. 8 role for Guardiola in midfield and his career encompassed Arteta’s spell as assistant.
The specific ‘Silva-role’ has been taken on by Granit Xhaka for the Gunners this season, with the Swiss midfielder playing as an advanced No. 8, despite spending most of his Arsenal career as a defensive midfielder.
The specific role that City legend David Silva played has been adopted by Granit Xhaka
It ties in with Zinchenko’s role tucking into midfield as this allows Xhaka to burst forward and make runs ahead of the ball in between the opposition’s right-back and right-sided centre-back.
This has been a huge asset for the Gunners as Xhaka has linked up with Martinelli on the left-wing – with the Brazilian providing the width – and the pair have together been able to stretch the game.
The positional switch has also seen the previously unpopular midfielder being given a new lease of life, with Xhaka now seen as one of the main leaders and figureheads of Arteta’s burgeoning team.
The previously unpopular Xhaka has thrived in the role and developed into a fan favourite
Building around a world class playmaker
It obviously helps to have a world class midfielder, but Arteta has been able to bring out all of the significant potential from Martin Odegaard that saw him bought by Real Madrid for £3.5m at the age of 16.
It is hard to argue there is a better midfielder on form in the Premier League right now, with the Norwegian contributing eight goals and five assists this season.
Guardiola’s City teams have been led by Kevin De Bruyne’s sensational quality as a right-sided No. 8, and Odegaard has picked up that mantle for Arsenal.
Playmaker Martin Odegaard continues shine for Arsenal and is in a rich vein of form currently
Everything about the Gunners’ style of play also helps to bring the best out of the midfielder.
Whether it be his ability to link up with Saka on the right, the defensive cover of Partey, the roles played by Martinelli and Xhaka, or the industrious and agile movements of Jesus and Eddie Nketiah up top – Odegaard fits this team perfectly – and as captain he is driving them on to new heights.
Guardiola’s former No. 2 is now causing him a significant headache in the race for the title
There are several similarities with the way Arsenal play to how City have set-up under Guardiola, with his fingerprints all over Arteta’s team.
However, that shouldn’t take any credit away from the Gunners boss who is doing a remarkable job and one which sees them five points clear at the half-way mark with a game in hand – a position they couldn’t have expected in their wildest dreams.
While there is still plenty of football to be played, there would now be no surprise if Arsenal do go on to win the league.
And that is testament to Arteta as he continues to impress and he now has the chance to complete the transformation from student, to the master.