“Guardiola did it at Bayern” - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta explains how he’s taken a leaf out of Manchester City manager’s book
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed how he has taken notes from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and implemented them in his own tactics at the Emirates this season.
The Spanish boss explained how the Gunners use left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko as an inverted full-back, similar to how Guardiola uses his defenders.
Arteta told Sky Sports:
"Well, this was started when I was in Barcelona (as a player). We used to play 3-4-3 diamonds and one of the full-backs used to play there. But Pep (Guardiola) did it at Bayern, i think, for the first time with Philipp Lahm, and that was developed at Manchester City in many different ways, using different players."
The Arsenal manager added:
"That's the great thing, you can take things, all the time, from other sports, from other coaches to make yourself better. You could use it as necessary to evlove and be better."
Arteta also spoke about Arsenal's poor disciplinary record in the previous two seasons, when they racked up nine red cards. The Gunners have not picked up a red card yet this season, which is certainly a major improvement.
He said:
"Well, hopefully we have learned our lesson from last year. That cost us a lot of points. We need to continue to do that in the same way (this season) because it's a vital thing especially playing in the Premier League."
Manchester City are currently second in the Premier League table, eight points behind Arteta's side, albeit with a game in hand. With only ten games to go and the Gunners in pole position, it remains to be seen whether last season's English champions can come back to defend the title.
"Everything can change" - Manchester City star offers take on Premier League title race against Arsenal
Manchester City defender Nathan Ake believes this season's title race will not be decided until the very end of the campaign. The Dutch centre-back claims that although Arsenal are leading the league by eight points at the moment, it could all change in the final stretch of the season.
On this day in 2010, Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick in the final 20 minutes against Wigan! 🇦🇷🙌 https://t.co/Uy50u5rG6M
He said (via Manchester Evening News):
"I think it's going to go right to the end. It's very tight. Everything can change. We still have to play them at home, so that's going to be a massive, massive game. We know, from now on, that every game is going to be vital. If you lose one point, if you lose two points."
Ake added:
“It's so difficult to come back from it. The only thing we can do is win our games. We have a tough test coming up against Liverpool [on Saturday], which is the first one after the international break. That is going to be tough. But we need to win them all.”
Arsenal will next face Leeds United while Manchester City will lock horns with Liverpool on 1 April.