Arsenal spending does not undermine Mikel Arteta's success, Pep Guardiola insists | OneFootball

The Man City boss was quick to defend his protege

Pep Guardiola has played down the suggestion that Arsenal’s success is purely down to their summer spending.

Guardiola, too, has had critics attempt to undermine his title-winning successes with City after they outspent their rivals, and he was quick to play down the suggestion that big-money transfers automatically deliver silverware.

He said, sarcastically: “The only thing I want to say to my friend Mikel Arteta is if he wins the title it will be just because he spent money, not because he worked hard or because of his players.

"It's like Liverpool too. If Arne (Slot) wins it again, it will be because he spent a lot of money, right? Because it’s not just Man City that (spend), right?”

He continued, reiterating the belief that Arsenal were much improved since Arteta’s appointment in 2019: “He found the club in a (certain) way and step by step, window by window, Arsenal is getting better.

"Last season in Europe, they made an incredible step forward and they are for me the most solid team. They don’t make mistakes in the back.”

After falling to a damning 5-1 defeat on their previous visit to N5, City will hope for improved fortunes as they visit the Emirates on Sunday, where a win could send them second in the Premier League table.

Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Myles Lewis-Skelly were among the scorers as Guardiola was routed by his protege in February.

Explaining where City went wrong, Guardiola said his side defended ‘like an under-14s team’.

He remembered: "The game last season, we started like many times last season, like an under-14s team and gave away a thousand million goals.

"After we were, a lot of the time, pretty good considering how it was last season, but the last 15-20 minutes were a disaster.

"We forgot to do what we had do and it was easy for Arsenal. I want to compete to be a better team than we were last season."