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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola namedropped Mikel Arteta in his latest press conference on a topic relating to the Premier League title
Pep Guardiola has issued a brutal message to Mikel Arteta amidst Arsenal and Manchester City's ongoing Premier League title battle. The Gunners are currently favourites to lift domestic silverware in May, as they sit five points above City, albeit having played a game extra.
That was a 2-2 against Wolves at Molineux brought forward from the Carabao Cup final weekend. City are also in that Wembley showpiece, but their scheduled fixture against Crystal Palace for game week 31 could not be played in a previous midweek because of the Eagles' involvement in the Conference League play-offs.
Though there is a significant gap between the two, the title race is arguably in City's hands, with Arsenal still to visit Etihad Stadium, and thus concerns in north London over a fourth consecutive second-placed finish are rising, despite an emphatic 4-1 victory away at bitter rivals Tottenham.
The pressure on Arteta to finally win a major honour at Arsenal is mounting, and unsurprisingly, he is getting no advice from Guardiola. When asked about his attempts with Barcelona to win his first title over Real Madrid, he replied: "I don't remember. I'm not here to give advice to Mikel."
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The Spaniard's frosty response came less than an hour after City discovered they will face Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16. Arsenal, meanwhile, are on the other side of the bracket and are set to take on Bayer Leverkusen over two legs.
A potential European quarter-final between the two was therefore ruled out, which could benefit Arsenal given there will be no psychological advantage for City to gain by facing their title rivals four times in the space of five weeks.
With the cup games taking centre stage in March, focus returns to the Premier League for now, with Arsenal welcoming Chelsea to Emirates Stadium just 24 hours or so on from City's trip to Leeds United.
Beyond that, the Gunners face Brighton and Everton before the March international break, while Nottingham Forest and West Ham United are City's next league opponents.
Injuries are also expected to play a huge role in deciding the title, with City and Arsenal having a similar amount of absentees. Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol are both long-term absentees for the former.
Guardiola was able to confirm a Jeremy Doku boost on Friday, however. He said: “Yesterday, he made the first training session... I don’t know [when he will be back], we’ll talk with the doctors and officials afterwards.”
As for the Gunners, Mikel Merino is expected to miss the next few months while Kai Havertz has a muscular issue and Ben White was absent for last Sunday's North London Derby.
On injuries, Arteta said: "We're waiting for tomorrow, as well as the last training session, to understand whether we have one or two available from last week."
Asked specifically about the Germany international and Max Dowman, he said: "Max will play some minutes tonight with the under-21s. Kai will train tomorrow and then let's see."
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