Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne is 'not surprised' at Arsenal's progression under Mikel Arteta with the Gunners leading the Premier League title race.
Arteta's side missed out on a top four spot last term at the expense of their north London rivals Tottenham with many criticising the Spaniard for his decision making and game management. The response from Arsenal this season has been nothing short of incredible with the north London outfit currently leading the Premier League title race ahead of the reigning champions after nine games.
Granit Xhaka's turnaround in form has seen him be labelled as Arsenal's 'own De Bruyne' as the Swiss midfielder continues to win over fans after his career at the Emirates Stadium looked to be over. City are well aware of Arteta's ability as a manager with the Spaniard having worked as Pep Guardiola's understudy before taking on the manager role at his former club.
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Guardiola's side will look to copy Arsenal by beating Liverpool this weekend as they try to keep the pressure on the Gunners who sit just a point above them in the Premier League table. Speaking ahead of City's huge clash at Anfield, De Bruyne praised Arteta saying: "Not really, no (if he is surprised with Arsenal's performances).
"I think I see a lot of similarities with the way that we [City] play and that's always been his [Arteta] style. When he stopped playing football and had the opportunity to come here it was, for him, a good learning school and obviously we had great years together. I saw an evolution from the beginning of Mikel and after three years when left.
"At the beginning he was adapting to his role and then we saw that he had a lot of ambition and when the opportunity comes, he will take it. It's nice to see that he got the time [at Arsenal] because it's a very difficult thing to get."
Arsenal took the decision to give Arteta the chance to continue working in the long-term project put forward by the Spaniard when he arrived as Unai Emery's replacement back in 2019, which is now paying dividends as the Gunners challenge for the Premier League title and look to return to the UEFA Champions League. De Bruyne continued: "I'm happy for him that it's going well because obviously you want people to do well.
"They're [Arsenal] playing really, really good football and I'm happy to see the way he has progressed. Hopefully they will just not be good enough for us!"
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