Pep Guardiola 'in Mikel Arteta's head' after Arsenal manager's behaviour in title race

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Mikel Arteta is under pressure at Arsenal after the Gunners lost three of their last four games, with defeat to Bournemouth opening the door for Man City in the Premier League title race

Gabby Logan reckons that Pep Guardiola has "got into Mikel Arteta's head" with his training ground tactics and touchline behaviour prompting concerns about the Arsenal manager.

The Gunners have suffered defeat in three of their past four matches across all competitions, with Bournemouth the latest side to overcome them. Their victory at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday handed Manchester City a lifeline in the title race - which they made the most of with Sunday's 3-0 win at Chelsea. Arsenal now risk surrendering another advantage at the summit of the table.

Arteta faces mounting pressure to deliver success with the north London club. The Spaniard has failed to secure silverware since the FA Cup in 2020 and has presided over three consecutive runner-up campaigns.

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In a bid to restore the club's fortunes he's introduced some unconventional training techniques, with Logan observing that David Raya showed minimal enthusiasm for them and was instead "focusing on his job" when questioned about them days afterwards.

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Speaking on The Sports Agents podcast with co-host Mark Chapman, she said: "I can't get my head around it. Honestly, having covered them so much early in the season in the Champions League, and you know, seeing them play some great, composed control football, just what's going on?

"What's happened to that Arsenal team? It feels like Arteta has definitely, watching him on the touchline, it feels like he's become even more maniacal in his behaviour. And there are more people around him, and they're doing things they haven't done.

"And there's all that footage last week of them walking around with footballs, five of them having a football on their head, and that was a team building exercise. And then David Raya coming into the studio at Prime saying, 'Well, I didn't do that because I was focusing on my job.'

"It feels like Pep's got into his head. It's impossible for us to measure that, isn't it? And it's impossible to us to ascertain.

"He didn't come in the studio pre-match, you know, pitch side, as he normally does last week. They're changing things, and they're changing players at a different stage of the game as well."

City have succeeded in overhauling Arsenal during two of the previous three title campaigns. This Sunday the leading pair will meet at the Etihad Stadium, where victory for the home side would be monumental and leave them within touching distance of potentially claiming top position.

Arsenal had been tipped as potential quadruple champions merely weeks earlier, but have fallen to City in the Carabao Cup final and been stunned by Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals.