Pep’s taking time to appreciate Art

PEP Guardiola admits he is excited to see Mikel Arteta tonight - and the pair have already been discussing what wine to drink after the match. The duo helped City to a host of silverware in recent years, and are firm friends.

But Arteta left earlier this season to take over as Arsenal manager - and he comes face-toface with his mentor at the Etihad Stadium tonight as the Premier League returns.

The campaign was halted on March 13 after Guardiola’s former No.2 contracted Covid-19.

The Spaniard made a full recovery and Guardiola says he is looking forward to locking horns with his old pupil.

“I’m excited for the fact to see him again - one of the nicest people I have ever met,” the City boss said.

“It was a joy for me, I think for all of us, to work with him. “The feeling I have is he is happy there (at Arsenal) and doing an incredible job, so (I am) looking forward to seeing him.” Asked when he last spoke to his compatriot, Guardiola said: “We send a message one hour and a half ago!

“It was about the wine we are going to drink after the game, if the social distance allows us to drink it.”

Guardiola finally replaced Arteta this week by bringing in Juanma Lillo as his new assistant - someone he has worked with before and looks up to.

“We started when we arrived here at City with Domenc Torrent, with Mikel and Rodo,” said Guardiola.

“We finished this situation, we were four coaches and now we are two.

“After when Mikel decide to go to London to be Arsenal manager, I felt I need someone to help us with this amount of games but I wanted to have time to take the right decisions.

“I discuss with Txiki [Begiristain], with friends, about the solution.

“I decide on Juanma because I know him and what I need, I think he is the right person to help us, to understand the game better, the methodology of the training sessions.

“I’m pretty sure he is going to help me and help us sustain the level we had in the last years.”