The footballing careers of Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola have been intertwined over the last three decades. Guardiola was club captain and a veteran of Johan Cruyff's trophy-laden 'Dream Team' when a skinny, confident, teenage Arteta first met his "idol" after joining Barcelona in 1997.

The pair never shared the same pitch during a competitive match, both leaving Catalonia at the start of the new millennium. They would be reunited on the coaching staff at Manchester City in 2016, as Guardiola handpicked Arteta as his assistant after arriving in the Premier League. The first time Guardiola's City faced Arsenal, Arteta was trusted by his new boss to prepare the match plan, drawing upon his five-year career in midfield for the Gunners. City won 2-1.

Since swapping the Etihad for the Emirates in December 2019, Arteta has repeatedly racked his brain in search of a way to dethrone his former mentor. A rivalry which is perennially framed as 'master versus apprentice' has taken on a new dimension in recent seasons since Arsenal have emerged as Manchester City's closest challengers for the Premier League title. Arteta is yet to finish above Guardiola over the course of a league season, but he has had some success in one-off encounters.

Head-to-Head Record

Pep Guardiola's dominance has waned

The overall record in the battle between Guardiola and Arteta is undoubtedly lopsided. The senior City coach quickly established a stranglehold on this rivalry, winning nine of the first 10 encounters. Across the first four Premier League meetings between the pair, City rattled in 10 goals without reply, consigning Arsenal to one comprehensive defeat after another. But the tide has begun to tentatively turn.

One of Arsenal's most significant victories over City during Arteta's reign came off the pitch. The Gunners outbid their title rivals to land Declan Rice in 2023, providing a much-needed extra layer of steel in midfield. Rice picked up a trophy on his competitive debut for Arsenal, helping his new club to a Community Shield triumph against City. Arteta and his transformative new arrival took four points off Guardiola's side last season and pushed the eventual champions until the final day of the campaign.

Man City 3-0 Arsenal

17th June 2020

The first managerial meeting between Arteta and Guardiola was delayed by three months. The wait didn't do Arsenal any good. It was Arteta's positive COVID-19 test which sent English football into lockdown in March 2020, returning from its enforced hiatus in the eerie setting of empty stadiums.

Fans were robbed of a front-row seat to watch Kevin De Bruyne's unique brand of brilliance. The Belgian walked between the raindrops on a sodden evening, orchestrating City's easy 3-0 win against 10 men following David Luiz's first-half red card. "Everything went wrong from the first minute," Arteta sighed post-game. It would not be the last deflating defeat at his former home.

Arsenal 2-0 Man City

18th July 2020

A month after getting resoundingly thumped by City, Arteta bamboozled his former boss with a shock 2-0 victory in the FA Cup semi-final. Lining up with a flexible back-three which had star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang perched on the left wing, Arsenal ceded possession but offered clinical penetration, carving through their lofty opponents at an empty Wembley Stadium.

Aubameyang twice found himself at the sharp end of slick passing sequences through City's soft centre, applying a pair of crisp finishes which took Arsenal to the FA Cup final and ultimately earned him a bumper new deal. The vintage victory aged better than the eye-watering contract for a 31-year-old.

Man City 1-0 Arsenal

17th October 2020

After getting caught out by Arteta's tactical surprise in the FA Cup semi-final three months earlier, Guardiola cycled through his little black book of strategies and schemes. Raheem Sterling scored the only goal of a contest which simmered but never came close to a boil.

The future Arsenal forward, who spent many afternoons receiving one-on-one instructions inside the glass walls of Arteta's office during their shared time at City, was dotted all over the pitch, drifting centrally from his normal spot on the flank and even popping up in defensive midfield. Crucially, Sterling found himself on the penalty spot to sweep a loose ball beyond Bernd Leno.

Arsenal 1-4 Man City

22nd December 2020

A year after leaving City to join Arsenal, Arteta's future in north London was in serious jeopardy. The Spanish coach had lost eight of the opening 14 league games in his first full season at the helm and found himself dumped out of the League Cup after a 4-1 shellacking at home to City. The Gunners were mired in 15th place and had scored just 12 league goals - fewer than Liverpool's Mohamed Salah on his own.

After overseeing yet another comprehensive victory over his former employee, Guardiola lauded Arteta's quality and called the potential decision to sack him "a big mistake". Arsenal's board ultimately agreed with Guardiola's conclusion, but the promise that Arteta had shown was not yet evident in his meetings with City.

Arsenal 0-1 Man City

21st February 2021

Arteta is his biggest critic, but a narrow loss to this particular iteration of Manchester City was hardly worthy of serious introspection. Deploying a hypnotic carousel of fleet-footed false nines, rather than a fixed centre-forward, Guardiola's side swept all before them. The 1-0 win at an empty Emirates in February 2021 was the club's 18th triumph in a sequence of 21 consecutive victories across all competitions.

Raheem Sterling nodded in the only goal after 77 seconds. For all the huff and puff Arsenal could muster, there was no way through an imperious backline. During this record-toppling stretch of dominance, City conceded just eight goals in 21 games.

Man City 5-0 Arsenal

28th August 2021

Once again, a humbling loss to Manchester City sparked another crisis in confidence during Arteta's rollercoaster reign as Arsenal manager. For the first time since 1954, the Gunners lost their first three league matches of the season, completing a dire sequence with a 5-0 drubbing at the Etihad. Granit Xhaka's first-half red card opened the floodgates, but the visitors were already trailing and utterly out of their depth at the home of the champions.

Ederson strode into an outfield role for much of the contest, at one point taunting a defeated set of players by standing with his studs on the ball for 10 long seconds. Arteta was not alone in describing the bleak showing as a "tough one to take".

Arsenal 1-2 Man City

1st January 2022

Another meeting with City and another defeat, but Arsenal's start to 2022 against the perennial champions was a turning point. For the first time in this modern rivalry, the Gunners actually assumed control and dictated the tempo. Bukayo Saka's crisp opener was just reward for a brilliant first-half display which Arteta had to watch from home after a positive COVID-19 test.

Arteta admitted that he would need "a big room" to see this high-stakes clash unfold from afar and may very well have been bouncing off the walls as City ruthlessly took advantage of a five-minute lapse. Shortly after Granit Xhaka gave away a cheap penalty, Gabriel was needlessly sent off, affording City a foothold in the contest before Rodri snatched all three points with a stoppage-time winner. Despite the short-term pain, this performance was the first sign of Arsenal's upward trajectory.

Man City 1-0 Arsenal

27th January 2023

Oleksandr Zinchenko was in no mood for any fun and games. In Arteta's quest to forge a winning mentality at Arsenal, he signed several players who had tasted plenty of success at Manchester City. Zinchenko arrived in the same summer as Gabriel Jesus, transforming the Gunners' buildup play by wandering into midfield from his full-back role.

But the Ukraine international couldn't force a victory in a fraught FA Cup tie on his first return to the Etihad Stadium. Still smarting from a narrow loss, sealed by a solitary Nathan Ake goal, Zinchenko wasn't impressed with the friendliness of his former teammates at the final whistle. "Thank you, Etihad for the warm welcome!" The left-back wrote on social media once he'd had time to cool off. "See you soon at Emirates, I hope you will have fun!" Unfortunately for Zinchenko, City had a little too much fun in north London.

Arsenal 1-3 Man City

15th February 2023

Not every piece of tactical tinkering from Pep Guardiola pays off. As City were chasing down Arsenal at the Premier League summit, the Catalan coach had convinced himself that the solution to all his problems was lining up with Bernardo Silva at left-back. The Portuguese playmaker was tormented by Bukayo Saka throughout the first half of City's post-Valentine's Day trip to the Emirates, watching on helplessly as Arsenal's starboy forced an equaliser.

Shortly after the restart, Bernardo was ushered out of the backline and replaced by Nathan Ake, simultaneously bolstering City's attacking impetus while snuffing out Arsenal's main avenue of threat. From his more familiar position, Bernardo started the move which ended with Jack Grealish curling in the winning goal before Erling Haaland added a final flourish to send City top of the table.

Man City 4-1 Arsenal

26th April 2023

Arsenal led the Premier League for 248 days across the 2022/23 campaign before ultimately finishing behind Manchester City. The Gunners didn't so much choke as were on the end of a throttling from Guardiola's side in a decisive 4-1 victory for the eventual champions.

Arteta's team had elbowed their way into the title race thanks largely to a fearsome high press, suffocating sides into submission with an approach which required plenty of energy and even more planning. Guardiola couldn't take away Arsenal's stamina, so he robbed them of a cohesive scheme, shuffling his pack so that John Stones stayed in defence, Ilkay Gundogan sat back while Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland played as an old-fashioned strike partnership. Arsenal were confused, bruised and well-beaten.

Arsenal 1-1 (4-1 pens) Man City

6th August 2023

The Community Shield is called many things; the season's curtain-raiser, a glorified friendly, a waste of time. But for Arsenal in 2023, it represented a "statement" and a "marker", according to their triumphant goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. After nine consecutive defeats against the Sky Blues, Arsenal finally got the better of their least favourite foes.

Arteta's side needed an equaliser from Leandro Trossard in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time and a penalty shootout to win the first game of the 2023/24 campaign. However the victory arrived, Arsenal's squad took confidence from it. "That mental block is gone," Ramsdale beamed. "We're ready to push on now." Push on they would.

Arsenal 1-0 Man City

8th October 2023

Arsenal's desperately narrow victory over Manchester City in October 2023 - the club's first league win against the Sky Blues since Arteta was part of the playing staff - was considered to be so momentous that fans queued after the match to buy a commemorative programme. The two best teams in England at the time played out a fiendishly tight contest, producing just two shots on target between them as the game was decided by "one deflection" - as Guardiola bitterly noted. Gabriel Martinelli delivered that telling blow, coming off the bench at half-time against the advice of Arsenal's medical department to fire beyond Ederson.

Man City 0-0 Arsenal

31st March 2024

Arsenal left the Etihad Stadium with a share of the spoils for the first time during Arteta's reign and sat above City in the table with just nine games to go, but it was the hosts who took more confidence from the goalless draw. As Rodri explained after City wrapped up a fourth consecutive title by finishing two points ahead of Arsenal, his side triumphed because of their superior "mentality".

When they came here, they faced us at the Etihad, I saw them and said: 'Ah, these guys, they don't want to beat us, they just want a draw.' And that mentality, I don't think we would do it the same way.

Arsenal won eight of their final nine games, but City produced a perfect conclusion, taking maximum points to leapfrog the Gunners in the run-in. Had Arteta's side somehow earned all three points at the Etihad, it would have been their title to celebrate.

2024/25 Premier League Matches

When the pair will meet

The clashes between Guardiola and Arteta are must-watch. The rich history of the two coaches adds an extra layer to a set of fixtures between the two favourites for this year's Premier League crown. The goals may not have flown so readily in recent meetings, but these two deep thinkers have poked and prodded intriguing tactical solutions out of one another.

Manchester City will stage the first fixture on Sunday, 22nd September 2024. Arsenal's trip to the Etihad comes at the end of a brutal seven-day sequence of three away matches which begins against their main rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, and includes a Champions League trip to Europa League holders, Atalanta.