Guardiola reveals Arteta didn’t celebrate goals against Arsenal when he was his No. 2 at Man City

Pep Guardiola has said that he always knew about Mikel Arteta’s love for Arsenal when the two worked together at Manchester City.

Arteta spent more than three years as Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad between 2016 and 2019, with the club winning two Premier League titles during their time together.

The Spaniard also made 150 appearances for Arsenal between 2011 and 2016 and captained the Gunners during his time at the Emirates, before becoming manager in December 2019.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola has said he always knew about Mikel Arteta’s love for Arsenal.

Both worked together at the Etihad and won two Premier League titles in three years.

There is great mutual respect between Arteta and Guardiola, with the Gunners boss calling his counterpart his ‘idol’ in the past, and they meet in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday.

And speaking before the clash, Guardiola revealed that he always knew Arteta was passionate about his old club, explaining that he would not celebrate when City scored against the Gunners.

“I know he went to his club,” he said at the pre-match press conference. The team he dreams of.

Guardiola said Arteta was not used to celebrating City’s goals against Arsenal in their time together.

“He is a supporter, he was captain there. He loves the club. I remember here that when we scored goals he jumped a lot except against a team.

I was sitting there, it was Arsenal. He said “that guy likes Arsenal”. Like here, if I’m training second and Barcelona calls me, I go.

Guardiola also insisted that he expected Arteta to continue and manage a club and believed that it is always the right decision to let the players and managers carry on if they want to.

He added: ‘I told my players and staff many times. We thought that if a team could offer him a coaching role, he would go.

Arteta continues to impress in the Gunners’ hot seat after learning a lot from Guardiola

‘I’m not a ‘stick with me’ guy. Everyone has dreams. People have to fly when they think it’s best.

“For the players, if they are not happy, they have to leave, life is too short.”

Friday’s FA Cup tie is a delightful clash with Arsenal currently leading City by five points in the Premier League title race with one game to go.

They have yet to meet in the league and the cup match provides an opportunity to deal a psychological blow to their title rivals.