David Moyes has praised the role Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger played in Mikel Arteta’s development as a coach, as the West Ham boss prepares for another reunion with his former player this weekend.
Arteta takes his table-topping Arsenal side to the London Stadium on Sunday, looking to keep Manchester City at arm’s length with three points against the relegation-threatened Hammers.
Moyes managed Arteta throughout his six-and-a-half-year spell at Everton and the Spaniard has previously hailed the Scot’s “huge impact” on his development.
However, Moyes himself believes it is the time the former midfielder spent as Arsenal captain under Wenger at the end of his playing career, and then his placement as Guardiola’s No2 at the Etihad, that has led him to the cusp of becoming a Premier League-winning manager.
“Yeah,” Moyes said, when asked if he felt a sense of pride in seeing Arteta’s progress. “I’ve got to say, I’ve had loads of players who’ve been coming to see me at West Ham, come for dinner or they come into the training ground. But Mikel’s on his own career now.
“He’s been an apprentice to probably one of one of the finest managers, if not the best, in Pep, which will have given him a lot of stuff. He’s had a good background. He’s worked under Arsene Wenger, who was an exceedingly good manager as well. So hopefully he’s on the right path. He’s a good boy and he’s got a chance of being a champion this year.
“We don’t talk much, because it’s business, you know? But I’ve always had a strong relationship with Mikel. Letting him leave Everton to go to Arsenal was difficult because he was such a good player for us. But that was what happened at the time, and that’s what happens in football.”
The Hammers climbed three points clear of the relegation zone with last Saturday’s vital win over Fulham, but are far from safe as Moyes tries to juggle their Europa Conference League commitments with what looks a tricky run-in.
The Irons have nine games left and must still travel to Man City, as well as hosting Manchester United and Liverpool after Arsenal.
That is a concern for Moyes, whose team have struggled badly against the division’s top sides this term, taking only two points from a possible 24 against the so-called Big Six.
“Somewhere along the line, we are looking to win one of the big games at home,” Moyes added. “We’ve got a couple of big games to come this season, so trying to win one of them will be important.
“We want to be competitive against the top teams, and I think last year we did a really good job. We didn’t win all the games, but we pushed them really hard. Beat Liverpool at home, we had some big results.
“So, the idea is to do that in the remaining games. We’ve got some big teams coming to the London stadium in the next month or two.”
