Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued a spiky response to former colleague and friend Mikel Arteta as the fallout from last weekend's fiery 2-2 Premier League draw continues.
Despite playing the entire second half with 10 men, Arsenal were moments away from their first win at the Etihad since January 2015, only for John Stones to score City's latest-ever equaliser in the Premier League in the 98th minute.
The Englishman's scrappy leveller came at the end of a second 45 where Arsenal barely got out of their own half, as Arteta adopted an all-out defensive approach with the aim of clinging onto their one-goal advantage.
Several players including Jurrien Timber, David Raya and Riccardo Calafiori went down in the dying embers too, triggering post-match fury from City fans and players, who levelled dark arts accusations at their Premier League title rivals.
Arteta was typically unfazed by such claims, insisting that he would rather be judged on facts rather than opinions when it comes to perceived gamesmanship, and the former Man City assistant manager made some cryptic comments in midweek relating to his time at the Etihad.
Guardiola: 'Arsenal want a war? They have a war'
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"I have been there (City) before. I was there for four years. I have all the information. So I know. Believe me," Arteta told reporters before the Gunners' 5-1 EFL Cup crushing of Bolton Wanderers in midweek.
Even with Arsenal now rising to the level of title contenders and forging a fierce rivalry with Man City, Arteta and Guardiola have always maintained a cordial relationship and messaged one another following last weekend's frenzied affair.
However, Guardiola was not too happy to hear of Arteta's mysterious comments in Friday's pre-game press conference, urging his former protege to clarify what he meant and questioning whether the Spaniard knew something about City's 115 financial charges that he was in the dark about.
"Next time Mikel has to be more clear exactly what he means. We know exactly what happened here in those four years. Maybe it's about the 115 charges, maybe he has information on that or maybe he has something I don't know?" Guardiola said.
"Next time, with the good relation I have with him, he can answer exactly what he means when he says he was here. (Arsenal defender) Gabriel said it perfectly after the match. So this is a war, we have here to provoke the opponent, to push them, and at the end, what can you do? You want a war? Now we war."
Were Arsenal's 'dark arts' justified at Man City?
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A penny for Jose Mourinho's thoughts as Arsenal parked the bus for the second half last weekend, where Leandro Trossard's moment of ball-kicking madness forced Arteta to bring on an unfit Ben White for a taxing 45 minutes.
Yes, Arsenal showed hardly any intention of attacking the City goal in the second half. Yes, the Gunners took their sweet time restarting, but with a numerical disadvantage away to the Premier League champions, what was Arteta's alternative? Commit bodies forward and make it easier for Guardiola's men to run away with a victory?
Maybe some of the naysayers would have liked Arsenal to go for the jugular even with 10 men on the field, but that would have been a true recipe for disaster for Arteta, whose conservative approach so nearly paid dividends.
With 11 players on the pitch in the first half, Arsenal managed an Expected Goals total of 0.61 compared to Man City's slightly superior 0.77, so the Gunners cannot be accused of not going for it when the playing field was level.
Furthermore, Raya and Timber's injuries were serious enough to keep them out of the Bolton win, and the former was not even booked for time-wasting at the Etihad, where surely any other team with 10 men would have done the same as Arteta.
Ben Knapton
