Pep Guardiola's recent Arsenal comment feels like a mind game war against Mikel Arteta

The title race with Man City is ON, and Arsenal are doing themselves no favours. As much as they portray being civil to the media, given their former working relationship, you could cut the tension between Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta with a knife.

In his recent post-match interview, after Man City handed a new one to Chelsea, Guardiola said that he would love to be in Arsenal's position by playing in midweek. Of course, this is a big factor of the Man City vs Arsenal title decider this weekend, with Arsenal playing more recently than Man City will have.

Pep Guardiola has already started the mind game war with Mikel Arteta

In his own words, Guardiola said “I would love to play in midweek, to be honest. I would love it. I would love to be in the position of Arsenal...”

The title race is not just a physical battle; it's a psychological battle too. Arteta knows better than most how press conferences can be used to sway momentum. Heck, he probably learned that from Pep himself.

Arteta, speaking before the game tonight against Sporting, said that he only feels "fire." This, without a doubt, is a subtle message he is sending to his former coach, Guardiola.

Mikel Arteta needs to put up or shut up

There has been a lot of talk lately about the title race keys being handed to Man City, but that's not realistically true. Man City need to win all of their remaining games to have the title race in their hands. Arsenal, on the other hand, can afford a draw this weekend.

That's not to say that Arsenal should settle for a draw. We've more than learned our lesson in that regard. However, nobody can deny that it's a better position to be in on paper.

However, no matter which way you look at it, Arsenal need to do better. Frankly, the form over the past month has been nothing short of embarrassing. Crumbling when it matters most, leaving games until late to win; it feels like no progress has been made in the bottling of emotions since 2023.

If Arsenal are capable of winning the Premier League again in our lifetime, they will look at the doubters and actually use them as fire, not just saying it in press conferences.

That's the difference between Pep and Arteta (so far); Pep backs up what he says to the media on the pitch. Arteta needs to put any preconceptions about him to bed this weekend. There are no two ways about it.

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