Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola may be locked in an intense stand-off for the Premier League title, but away from the pitch, the duo remain good friends.
After all, it was under Guardiola at Manchester City that Arteta cut his teeth in the dugout before he was lured back to Arsenal in December 2019.
Three-and-a-half years later, the Spaniard is attempting to outwit his mentor and end Arsenal's agonising 19-year title drought. After dropping precious points in each of the last three weeks, the Gunners boss knows that their title hopes will hinge heavily on where or not they can get a positive result against Manchester City in their own backyard on Wednesday night.
With Arsenal out of form and the pressure firmly on them, Manchester City are firm favourites to beat their title rivals - both in midweek and in the title race.
But Guardiola is unlikely to take anything for granted given how highly he rates Arteta: something that was made abundantly clear during the Amazon documentary 'All or Nothing: Arsenal'.
Following City's 1-1 draw with Burnley back in 2018, a key clip underlined how involved Arteta was with first-team matters as Guardiola discussed a huge chance that was missed by Raheem Sterling with his coaching protege, revealing that the match would have been won if Sterling had heeded Arteta's advice.
In the video, Guardiola tells Arteta: “Yesterday I talked with Raheem, and I must say, he is such a good guy. He was so p*****, so I asked him four questions. How did you feel after the first action? You failed when the ball went up?
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“I said: 'Was the latter a consequence of the former?' And he said: 'No, no, but I didn't do what Mikel said to me. Instead of attacking the ball, I put my foot in. I didn't attack the ball. That's why it went over.'"
The impact that Arteta has made at Arsenal since moving on from Guardiola's coaching team has only underlined how right the City chief was. And judging by fresh comments made by Guardiola this week, he is wary of the threat that Arteta and Arsenal pose to City's title hopes - even in spite of their recent collapse in form.
Even if Arsenal don't get the job done this season, Guardiola is convinced that - with Arteta at the helm - the Londoners are destined for bigger and better things in the future.
Speaking back in January, he said: “They [Arsenal] have the potential as a club, with the manager, with stable finances, to do it. I didn’t know here [with City], so imagine talking about Arsenal in the future. What I know from my experience is that we are not the same. I am not the same, the players are not the same; everyone changed. Good things and bad things influence our lives.”
