Pep Guardiola immediately throws Mikel Arteta under the bus to prove a point

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta have an excellent friendship. The battles they've had on the pitch over the years hasn't tarnished that, as much as Arsenal and Man City fans would like to see that happen.

See, Mikel Arteta learned under Pep Guardiola. Despite being Arsenal through and through, Arteta spent his early coaching days at Man City, learning under Pep as the assistant.

Since then, Arteta has brought half of the City squad to the Emirates Stadium and challenged them for the title ever since. It hasn't quite worked out for Arteta, but he's closer than ever and this season might finally be the time Arsenal fans can celebrate.

But, Pep Guardiola has reminded everybody that if his success is discredited, then Arteta's should be too under the same reasoning.

Pep Guardiola throws Mikel Arteta under the bus to prove a point

Pep Guardiola is often critiqued for spending too much money at each of the clubs he's managed. Barcelona and Bayern Munich both had money to burn, and it's no different at Man City.

However, in the eyes of Pep, his success came from far more than money. And if money means that success must be discredited, then the same logic must apply across the board.

In his own words, Pep Guardiola said: "I want to say to my friend Mikel Arteta, if he wins the title, it will be just because he spent, not because he worked a lot or his players. It's like Liverpool. If Arne wins again, it will be because he spent a lot of money. Right? Because it's not just Man City that happened, right? So for all of them.

Guardiola continued: "Listen, for many, many years every club can do whatever he wants. You know? "I know how they've been treated is completely different, but what he [Arteta] wants to spend is because they want it and it's fine."

We can see where Guardiola is coming from, to an extent. As Arsenal fans, we may have been guilty in the past at rolling our eyes at the amount of money Man City has spent.

But, and if we're being completely frank here, Arsenal isn't innocent in recent times. Over the last five years, Arsenal has the second biggest net spend in the Premier League (£-672m), second only to Man United (£-678.97m).

As embarrassing as Man United's net spend without winning the Premier League is, Arsenal is in the same boat. Sure, the Gunners have consistently been closer in recent history to lifting the Premier League than Man United, but the point remains: they haven't.

If Arsenal win the Premier League this season, there will naturally be critics pointing the finger and saying it isn't a success story, with all the money spent. However, this is just part of the game, and Arsenal fans must take it as well as we've given it in recent times.

Pep Guardiola meant well, but he raised a good point when mentioning Mikel Arteta. Arsenal has spent a lot of money with no reward (yet), and that definitely shouldn't be overlooked.

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