It’s almost seven days since the (in)famous Manchester City – Arsenal derby in which the Gunners were leading with 10 men until the 96th minute when John Stones brought a point to Pep Guardiola’s crew. But everbody is still angry – The Gunners for not taking all three points and the Citizens because they nearly lost the game against title rivals at their own stadijum. So, the ’flairs’ continued throughout the week and they finally reached Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola, former teacher and pupil and (still) good friends off the field.Silva and Akanji rip into Arsenal playersSince City players accused Arsenal of ’dark arts’, the Spanish tactician decided to reply, but in a vague form: “I have been in Manchester City before. I was there for four years. I have all the information. So I know. Believe me“. That quickly provoked an aswer from Pep, who is preparing for a trip to Newcastle without his two key players: Rodri (out for season) and Kevin De Bruyne (still injured), while Oscar Bobb and Nathan Ake are already out of this game too.“Next time Mikel has to be more clear exactly what he means. We know exactly what happened here in those four years. Maybe it’s about the 115 charges, maybe he has information on that or maybe he has something I don’t know? Next time, with the good relation I have with him, he can answer exactly what he means when he says he was here. Gabriel said it perfectly after the match. So this is a war, we have here to provoke the opponent, to push them, and at the end, what can you do? You want a war? Now we war” replied Guardiola.Pep promises a title race with Arsenal even without RodriArteta, whose team is preparing to face Leicester, spoke highly of Guardiola.”I love him, I respect him, and I admire him. I admire his team and everything he does. Our professional and personal relationships are two different things. If that has to be damaged because we play against each other, then I wouldn’t speak to him anymore. That’s not the kind of relationship I think we both have. Sport shouldn’t get in the way of that. I want to be on YouTube in May because we did the right things for the right reasons and lifted what we want to lift. To do that, we have to be effective in what we do. I didn’t anticipate we’d be playing 56 minutes with 10 men. Sometimes the opponent is better. When we hear negative criticism, it tells you about the expectations. We need to raise our level, that’s it” emphasized Arteta.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 6Saturday14:30: (5.30) Newcastle (4.00) Man.City (1.63)17:00: (1.22) Arsenal (7.25) Leicester (15.0)17:00: (2.30) Brentford (3.50) West Ham (3.25)17:00: (1.75) Chelsea (3.60) Brighton (4.90)17:00: (2.85) Everton (3.35) Crystal Palace (2.65)17:00: (2.45) Nott.Forest (3.40) Fulham (3.10)19:30: (7.75) Wolverhampton (4.80) Liverpool (1.40)Sunday16:00: (4.40) Ipswich (3.50) Aston Villa (1.85)18:30: (2.35) Man.Utd. (3.60) Tottenham (2.85)Monday22:00: (1.65) Bournemouth (3.80) Southampton (5.40)***odds are subject to change***
