Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told how he has become the Premier League's new Jose Mourinho

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher insists that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is not a disciple of Pep Guardiola and is instead taking a leaf out of Jose Mourinho's philosophy with his tactics when in front.

The Gunners twice led against Arne Slot's side on Sunday evening but were pegged back on both occasions. Bukayo Saka's early opener was cancelled out by Virgil van Dijk before Mikel Merino's header was wiped out by a cool Mohamed Salah strike.

Sunday's draw leaves the North London club third in the Premier League, five points behind leaders Manchester City and four behind today's opponent's Liverpool. Much has been made of Arteta's style of play, and Carragher told Sky Sports why he believes the conversations surrounding the Arsenal boss being similar to his mentor Guardiola should now end.

"Because Mikel Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola, we are always thinking that this is a Pep Guardiola disciple," he said. "If you look at the two most successful managers in the last 10-15 years, you have got Pep Guardiola here (lifts up his left hand) and Jose Mourinho (lifts right hand) almost equally successful at the other end [of the spectrum].

"Mikel Arteta is slowly morphing into a Jose Mourinho type of manager and nobody really thought that would happen. I just think it is really interesting how they have got there.

"You see today, 2-1 up, pressing Liverpool, on top of Liverpool, playing really well but they retreat in the second half. I know they had a couple of injuries at the back but they have still got the midfield players playing, the attackers playing who you think: ‘Can they get on the ball and go forward and try to take the sting out of the pressure.’ That [instruction] is coming from the manager, but, it is happening too often now and we see it with ten men.

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"I thought what they did at Manchester City was great but what they did against Brighton and Bournemouth last week… top teams before when they go down to ten men, and I go back to my own experience, yeah you are under pressure but you relieve it, you keep the ball a bit and you are still a threat going forward.

"It feels like, when they go down to ten men, very Jose like at the Nou Camp when he was at Inter. This is not a criticism, it is an observation of where Arsenal are as a team.

"Mikel Arteta looks at his attacking players and thinks: ‘We are not as good as Man City (and they are not) and we have got to win the league by being the best defensively' and that is what they were last season and possibly still are now but lost goals because of being down to ten men in certain games. But this idea that Arsenal play great football and he is a Pep Guardiola man, he is not.

"You see that with players going down [injured] and the secrecy before the game about who is fit and who is not fit - it is all out of the Jose Mourinho playbook."