Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed that he called Pep Guardiola after his Manchester City side clinched the Premier League title over the weekend.
The Gunners had led the league for the majority of the 2022/23 campaign before a torrid run of form in April saw them winless across four league fixtures. That handed the initiative to City, who took full advantage - overtaking their title rivals and now sitting eight points ahead with just one match to play.
Now, Arteta has admitted that he rang Guardiola to congratulate him after the Citizens were crowned champions last weekend. Speaking about the City manager to Sky Sports, the Spaniard: "I called him to congratulate him and the staff because people may think things that happen are granted for them.
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"They have to work so hard and all the hours they put in, how much they suffer and how much they have to think and think… and try to always promote that winning mentality that they are doing. Then at the end, you have to say congratulations, this is sport.
"He’s a really good friend of mine. I not only respect him but I admire him as a person, as a professional.
“So when you are in reach, you have to take all of the positive things that we’ve done in the season and how far we’ve come, and some (lessons) for sure to be better."
Arteta spent three and a half seasons at the Etihad Stadium, where he was Guardiola's assistant coach and the young manager also admitted he tuned in to watch City lift the trophy following their 1-0 victory over Chelsea. "They deserve it as simple as that. 38 games - it doesn’t lie,” he added.
“We have some regrets against Liverpool, 2-0 up, West Ham and the penalty, against Southampton the mistakes that we made and it was 3-3. Even if we had won all those games, it wasn’t enough.
"And this is the level. Everything has to be perfect, there are no margins for error.
“Everything has to go your way for 10-and-a-half months and we had some bumps in the road for the last final part and made some mistakes that were critical not to reach that level.”
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