Arsenal provoked war, says Man City’s Guardiola as rivalry escalates

Brazil’s Gabriel said Arsenal was waiting for City to visit it, with the rivalry between last season’s top two teams heating up.

Pep Guardiola (R) and Mikel Arteta during Manchester City’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Arsenal wanted to provoke Manchester City into a war during last weekend’s Premier League clash but the champion is ready for the challenge, City manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.

A stoppage-time equaliser let host City hold 10-man Arsenal 2-2 on Sunday in a match where City midfielder Rodri suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament which ruled him out for the season.

Nerves flared during the clash as City’s leading scorer Erling Haaland threw the ball at Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and directed heated words at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after the final whistle, asking him to “stay humble”.

Brazil’s Gabriel said Arsenal was waiting for City to visit it, with the rivalry between last season’s top two teams heating up.

“Gabriel said it perfectly in the press after the match: this is a war, we (are) here to provoke the opponent, push them,” Guardiola told reporters when asked about Haaland’s actions.

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“And at the end, what can you do? You provoke me? OK, I’m there. You want a war? Now we war... The type of challenge that Arsenal challenges, I understand it.”

The friendship between Guardiola and Arteta could come under strain with the rivalry between their title-chasing Premier League clubs intensifying in recent days.

Arteta seems certain their relationship won’t be damaged.

Guardiola, however, might have gotten irritated.

Arsenal’s tactics, and use of football’s so-called “dark arts,” brought some criticism from a number of City players after the feisty 2-2 draw between the teams last weekend.

Arteta responded rather cryptically by saying he has “all the information” about City owing to his time there as an assistant to Guardiola from 2016-19.

“So I know, believe me,” Arteta said.

Those remarks were sufficiently vague for Guardiola to wonder whether Arteta may actually be alluding to the off-the-field issues at City, which is currently defending itself against 115 charges of breaching Premier League regulations following an investigation into the club’s financial affairs.

“Next time he has to be more clear exactly what does he mean,” Guardiola said of Arteta. “He said he was here four years and we know exactly what happened here.

“It can be related (to) the process now with 115 charges, maybe it’s about that. He knows information about that maybe, or maybe he has something like ... I don’t know. OK, next time, like a good relation I have with him, hopefully this question has been asked. He can answer exactly what does it mean when he said he was here and ‘I know what’s happening here.,” Guardiola added.

Asked about his relationship with Guardiola, Arteta said: “I love him, I respect him, I admire him and I admire his team and everything that he does. This is sport. One thing is our profession, another is our personal relationship.

“If our relationship was damaged because one draws and the other one wins or the amount of times that they’ve beaten us, I would not talk to him any more. So that’s not our relationship, especially the relationship that I consider both of us to have. In sport it will never get in my way, a personal relationship, that’s for sure,” said the Arsenal coach.

Leader City, which visits Newcastle United on Saturday, is two points ahead of Arsenal with 13 points from five matches.