Manchester city boss Pep Guardiola rates his former assistant coach Mikel Arteta start at Arsenal

Manchester city boss Pep Guardiola believes Mikel Arteta is doing a ‘great job’ at Arsenal and claims his former assistant at Manchester City is ‘incredibly happy’ at his new club.

Arteta left the Premier League champions in December to succeed Unai Emery as Arsenal’s permanent manager.



Since returning to north London, Arteta has guided his side to just one win in seven Premier League games, while Sundays goalless draw against Burnley put another dent in their hopes of securing a top-four finish.

But Guardiola has praised the start Arteta has made at Arsenal. Pep Guardiola if he believes City are missing Arteta and if he has spoken to his former assistant,Guardiola said after his side’s defeat toTottenham on Sunday: ‘I know he’s incredibly happy there.


‘He’s doing a great job. ‘His team when I saw some games are doing really well and I’m so happy for him.’

Meanwhile, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes Arsenal will only show significant signs of improvement once Arteta can bring in new players this summer.

‘I think they’ve actually deserved more in certain games,’ Carragher told Sky Sports.

‘I think the Chelsea one was the real big standout one that really hurt them to lose that game.

‘I think at this moment of Arsenal, I’ve been in this position plenty of times with Liverpool, where you get to the middle of January, February and you almost feel like you’ve not got that much to play for.

‘They haven’t, they’re not going to get in the top four, they’re not going to obviously go down.

‘Obviously they’ve got the cup competitions but the real big thing is actually getting back in the Champions League and challenging for the Premier League.

‘I don’t think performances are ever more important than results but where Arsenal are at now, I think people want to see something that can change only in the summer.

‘I think Mikel Arteta was asked there ‘How do you change it?’ – it’s finding better players.

‘He’s putting what he wants in there, they’re a lot more aggressive, they’re pushing higher up, the back four are pushing up, it was a massive problem for them how deep they were in so many games.

‘But that will only change with better players because you still see that line up there for Arsenal, that’s not good enough.’