Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola's one word answers on Man City vs Arsenal rivalry speak volumes
They say a picture paints a thousand words. What about when one word paints a thousand words?
Manchester City and Arsenal shared the points in a bitter battle at the Etihad earlier this season, with John Stones' 99th minute equaliser prompting a throw of the ball from Erling Haaland onto Gabriel Magalhaes' head and an incident after the game where Haaland told Mikel Arteta to 'stay humble, bro'.
Stones then accused Arsenal of 'dark arts', while Bernardo Silva mocked the Gunners' lack of Premier League titles, adding that he prefers playing Liverpool because they 'try to play football.'
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The return fixture promises to be one of revenge and retribution on both sides, but neither manager was in a chatty mood when their press conferences strayed remotely close to the topic.
When Guardiola was asked if Sunday will be a grudge match, he simply replied: 'No.' Pressed on his relationship with Arteta, he defiantly replied: "Exceptional. With him and his family. We're not in touch much because we have business but the respect that we have is always there."
Then it was Arteta's turn. The same question - how would you sum up the rivalry with City? "Two teams trying to win," he replied.
Anything more than that? "No."
The two managers were firmly on the same page, but it doesn't take much to read between the lines. Arteta tried to downplay his own comments after that game with a brief praise of City's winning mentality, and insisted his side should have won at the Etihad.
He said he 'didn't take anything personally' from Haaland's 'humble' comment, and this was an example of very few words doing plenty to build a narrative ahead of what is definitely absolutely not a grudge match.
Meanwhile, Arsenal will make a late call on the fitness of goalkeeper David Raya, who has a muscular issue that forced him out of their Champions League clash this week. Neto, on loan from Bournemouth, will step in if Raya cannot make it. Ben White is definitely out for the hosts.
