Sean Dyche's Everton reign got off to a flying start as James Tarkowski's header handed Premier League leaders Arsenal a surprise 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park.

Everton looked revitalised in their first outing under the former Burnley boss, and it was two of his former Clarets players who combined for the winner – Tarkowski powering Dwight McNeil's corner home on the hour.

Arsenal were kept at arm's length by Everton during an unusually disjointed display, with the deserved victory dragging the Toffees – at least temporarily – out of the relegation zone.

Having suffered just their second league defeat of the season, the Gunners could see their lead at the summit cut to two points when title rivals Manchester City face Tottenham on Sunday. 

Despite Everton starting strongly at a boisterous Goodison Park, Arsenal missed the first clear chance on the half-hour mark, Eddie Nketiah firing wide following excellent work from Bukayo Saka.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin somehow failed to slide home Amadou Onana's low delivery three minutes later as Everton threatened, before the unmarked Abdoulaye Doucoure headed McNeil's cross wide.

Conor Coady then made a vital goal-line clearance from Saka's volley, before Calvert-Lewin almost found the top-left corner with a looping header as an entertaining first half ended level.

Visiting captain Martin Odegaard blazed over from a good position after 59 minutes, and Arsenal were punished a minute later as Tarkowski found the bottom-right corner with a fine header from McNeil's right-wing corner.

Arsenal introduced January additions Jorginho and Leandro Trossard in search of a leveller, but the latter's 20-yard attempt, saved by Jordan Pickford, was as close as they came as their title hopes suffered a huge blow.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants to build around players such as Gabriel Martinelli after the forward signed a new deal at the club.

Martinelli agreed to a new long-term contract that will reportedly run until the end of the 2026-27 season.

The 21-year-old, who signed for Arsenal in July 2019, has started every Premier League game this season and scored seven times in the competition for the top-flight leaders, who head to struggling Everton on Saturday.

Bukayo Saka is another youngster thriving under Arteta, who sees plenty of scope for improvement as the Gunners aim to build a dynasty with such talents.

"It's great news. We want to build on all the talent that we have in the squad," he said in a press conference on Friday.

"It's great to see them happy and commit to the club. He's a player with enormous potential who has so much to improve.

"He can develop physically, mentally, defensively, the space he occupies, consistency."

Asked if Saka and William Saliba – who has been excellent in Arsenal's defence following loan spells at Marseille and Nice respectively – were close to signing fresh deals, Arteta added: "Part of the plan is to extend the contract of our biggest talents. We are trying to do that.

"The others will be done whenever we can. I see everybody really happy and willing to continue with the club."

Arsenal wanted to recruit two more highly rated youngsters in January but were unable to get deals for Mykhaylo Mudryk or Moises Caicedo over the line.

Mudryk joined London rivals Chelsea in a £89million (€100m) move, while Brighton and Hove Albion rebuffed two offers for Caicedo.

The Gunners did bring in Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho, with the latter set to add vital experience in their bid to claim a first league title since 2004.

"We knew that in this market you have to adapt and be flexible and ready for inconvenience," Arteta said of Jorginho.

"We had a big one with [Mohamed Elneny's] injury and we needed a player in that position. [Jorginho] is a player that I've always admired. He's a great character who'll bring leadership and quality in that position and he's going to help us a lot."

Jorginho could make his debut against Everton, with Thomas Partey a doubt due to an injury he suffered in last week's FA Cup defeat to Manchester City.

"Let's see, that one is still a doubt," Arteta said. "Let's see how he comes in today and if he’s able to train or not. We will make a decision on that.

"He's not ruled out and it's nothing very significant, but it was significant enough to get him out of the game, which for Thomas is a bit unusual, but hopefully he'll be fine."

Arsenal have not won at Goodison Park since October 2017, when they beat the Toffees 5-2.

Saturday will be Sean Dyche's first game in charge of Everton, who sit 19th, level on 15 points with Southampton below them.

Dyche lost 10 Premier League games against Arsenal during his time in charge of Burnley, and should the Gunners win, they will become the first team in English league history to register 100 victories against a single opponent.

On December 21, 2019, two new managers sat in the stands at Goodison Park, watching on as Everton hosted Arsenal.

Everton had just appointed Carlo Ancelotti amid Duncan Ferguson's full-blooded, temporary spell in charge after Marco Silva's sacking.

On the opposite side of the director's box, Mikel Arteta, who had been unveiled as Arsenal's new head coach a day earlier, looked down as Freddie Ljungberg took charge for the final time as interim boss. The match finished 0-0, both teams in need of reinvigoration and a sense of direction.

Arsenal have found that direction. Everton, it is safe to say, have not.

Arteta, of course, played for both clubs. A star of the David Moyes era at Everton, Arteta was "the best little Spaniard" the blue half of Merseyside knew, though the relationship was soured slightly when he left for Arsenal in 2011.

The former midfielder had been linked with the vacant Everton job when it became apparent he was ready to cut his teeth in management, though Arsenal always seemed the likely destination.

In fairness, while Farhad Moshiri, once an investor at Arsenal, and Everton's board have made numerous mistakes over the last several seasons, bringing in such an experienced, quality manager as Ancelotti seemed like a no-brainer.

Indeed, there were some suggestions it was Arsenal who had made the wrong call, going for the inexperience of youth (Arteta was only 37 at the time) when a proven, top-class winner in the form of Ancelotti was right there.

Arsenal would go on to finish eighth that season, while the Toffees ended in 12th. Yet just over three years later, Everton welcome Arsenal to Goodison Park again, and the contrast in their fortunes could not be more different.

While the Gunners sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League, Everton – now under the tutelage of Sean Dyche – are embroiled in a relegation scrap for the second season running. This time, though, it very much feels as if Moshiri and Co. might have pushed their luck too far.

Patience is a virtue

Arsenal supporters might be revelling in their title charge, but it would be fair to say that Arteta has not always had the backing of 100 per cent of the club's fanbase.

Despite leading Arsenal to FA Cup glory in his first half-season at the club (albeit no fans were at Wembley Stadium to witness it), Arteta was criticised in his first full campaign as the Gunners struggled to adapt fully to his approach.

Then there was his strained relationship with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose form fell off a cliff after he was rewarded with a lucrative new contract in 2020, and a move for free agent Willian that Arteta pushed hard for, only for the playmaker – now back in the Premier League at Fulham – to struggle.

Aubameyang's last appearance for Arsenal came, coincidentally, in the corresponding fixture at Goodison Park last term, when the Gunners surrendered a lead and lost 2-1 to a late Demarai Gray thunderbolt.

There was yet more scrutiny directed at Arteta and sporting director Edu when, with Arsenal having failed to add to their ranks in January last year, the 2021-22 season culminated in them losing out on Champions League football to rivals Tottenham.

A 5-1 home win over, you guessed it, Everton, on the final day did ensure they ended a campaign on a high, but the business Arsenal did in pre-season has been transformative, and Arteta seems to have finally and firmly got his message across.

Arsenal head to Goodison Park with 50 points, 35 more than Everton, having lost just one league game all season. They have scored 45 goals, second only to Manchester City; Everton, on the other hand, collected the last of their three victories (the lowest total in the top flight) on October 22, and have netted just 15 times in 20 games.

While Arsenal are reaping the rewards for the patience shown in Arteta – and, it must be noted, large financial backing, too – Everton are paying the price for flitting between managers and chaos in the upper echelons at the club.

A club in chaos

Even with Arsenal flying high, Everton could have cause for optimism heading into this match. They have, after all, won three of their last four Premier League games against Arsenal, as many as they had in their previous 26 against them, and that includes two successive home defeats last season and in the 2020-21 campaign.

They last won three home league fixtures in a row against the Gunners between March 1977 and August 1978, but the chaos of the last month, which has somehow surpassed even the disarray of January 2022, when Rafael Benitez was allowed to sell Lucas Digne before being sacked himself and replaced two weeks later by Frank Lampard, has drained any air of optimism that might come with a new manager.

Lampard was sacked on January 23, less than a year into the job following a 2-0 defeat at West Ham two days prior. In a summary of the level of dysfunction at Everton, the club did not officially confirm Lampard's sacking until over five hours after it was briefed to media outlets.

On the same day, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher labelled the Toffees "the worst run club in the country" – it's hard to argue with that assessment.

While Lampard, with a meagre 23.7 per cent win ratio in the league, can have few complaints over his dismissal, that dysfunction was clear again in the managerial search that followed. Marcelo Bielsa was the owner's preferred candidate and even flew into London for talks, reportedly offering to take over the club's under-21s in view to taking charge of the first team at the end of the season.

Dyche, a polar opposite in terms of playing style, was appointed instead, though even that announcement dragged on into Monday.

The hope will be that Dyche can steady the ship, though he has already suffered a blow, with Everton – who are said to have targeted up to 14 players in a last-ditch scramble on deadline day following the £45million sale of Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United – the only Premier League club that failed to make a signing in January, when reinforcements were evidently required.

Arsenal, on the other hand, could not get their first-choice acquisitions (Mykhaylo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo) through the door, but boosted their ranks with Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho.

Forks in the road

With Arteta's links to Everton, it's hard not to make direct comparisons, especially with the start of his Arsenal tenure coming right after that goalless draw back in 2019.

Arteta's first game in charge of Arsenal was a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Boxing Day, 2019. He has now overseen 115 top-flight matches as Gunners boss, winning 65, losing 32 and drawing 18.

That 56.5 per cent win ratio is far better than any of the three permanent Everton managers that have immediately proceeded Dyche.

Ancelotti won his first match, against Dyche's Burnley, on the same day as Arsenal drew with Bournemouth, and despite a flying start to his one full season in charge in 2020-21, even he could not guide Everton to European football.

He left for Real Madrid with a 43 per cent win record (25/58) in the league, having taken 1.5 points per game, not far off Arteta's 1.85, but far better than Benitez's 1.0 or Lampard's 0.9.

In the same timeframe, Dyche oversaw 88 Premier League matches at Burnley, winning 22 (25 per cent), drawing 27, losing 39 and averaging 1.1 points per game.

Dyche's overall win percentage across his 258 top-flight matches is 27.9, though his Clarets side did tail off in his final seasons, prior to his dismissal last April.

Only against City (11) has Dyche lost more Premier League games than he has to Arsenal (10), who would become the first team in English league history to register 100 wins against a specific opponent should they triumph.

Arteta has lost three of his five matches against his old club as a manager, so it's no sure-fire guarantee for Arsenal, but Dyche has an unenviable task on his hands... not just on Saturday, but in the coming months.

Jorginho is relishing the chance to play under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal after his "surprising" move from Premier League rivals Chelsea went through on deadline day.

Arsenal are reported to have paid £12million to Chelsea to get a deal over the line in time, having failed in their attempt to bring in Moises Caicedo from Brighton and Hove Albion.

The Italy international provides another option for the Premier League leaders in central midfield after losing Mohamed Elneny to a "significant" knee injury.

And Jorginho revealed in his first interview as an Arsenal player that it was a transfer a long time in the making, with manager Arteta having tried previously to sign him.

"[Arteta] was a big influence. I know he tried a few times to get me before and it didn't happen due to other reasons, not because of my wishes," he told Arsenal's website.

"So of course, he had a big influence. Now I'm very excited for this new challenge, and I just can't wait to be on the pitch to be honest."

Jorginho boasts plenty of experience, having made more than 500 club appearances in his career and represented Italy 46 times.

Arsenal's interest in the Brazil-born midfielder only became public on Monday and he signed an 18-month contract at Emirates Stadium the following day.

"Everything has happened so fast. I was a bit surprised, but I took the opportunity of this amazing challenge," he added.

"It's an important shirt. It's an amazing club, a big one, and I'm really excited and happy to be here.

"I'll try to just bring positive energy, hard work and my experience to help the team. It's what I always bring with me. 

"I try just to help with the experience I've had in my time with the other clubs and anything I can do just to help the team to achieve more and more, that's my target.

"All I can promise is that I'm going to give my all to represent this club."

Jorginho has been handed the number 20 shirt and is in line to make his debut for Arsenal in Saturday's Premier League trip to Everton.

Arsenal signed Jorginho from London rivals Chelsea in a deadline day deal to bolster their midfield.

The Gunners agreed a reported £12million fee with the Blues for the 31-year-old midfielder and the Premier League leaders got the deal over the line in time.

Arsenal, bossed by Mikel Arteta, had been pushing to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton and Hove Albion but saw a number of bids rejected, with the Seagulls making it clear the Ecuador international would not leave this month.

The Gunners moved instead to strengthen their squad with a proven performer, swifty completing a deal for Jorginho, whose contract with Chelsea was set to expire at the end of the season.

Jorginho's arrival comes amid concern for Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, who was withdrawn in Friday's FA Cup defeat to Manchester City with an apparent rib injury, while Mohamed Elneny has been sidelined with what Arsenal described as a "significant" knee problem.

A Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2020-21, Jorginho was also part of the Italy squad that won the Euro 2020 title.

Arteta said of his new recruit: "Jorginho is a midfield player with intelligence, deep leadership skills and a huge amount of Premier League and international experience. Jorginho has won in his career, but he still has the hunger and huge willingness to contribute here.

"We are so pleased to sign Jorginho and welcome him and his family to the club."

Gunners sporting director Edu said on Arsenal's website: "Jorginho is an established professional with a strong mentality who brings quality and experience into our squad.

"He is a player who fits our style of play, and he joins us at a very good moment where he can contribute in a key position to help maintain our momentum. We welcome Jorginho to Arsenal."

Arsenal signed Jorginho from London rivals Chelsea in a deadline day deal to bolster their midfield.

The Gunners agreed a reported £12million fee with the Blues for the 31-year-old midfielder and the Premier League leaders got the deal over the line in time.

Arsenal, bossed by Mikel Arteta, had been pushing to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton and Hove Albion but saw a number of bids rejected, with the Seagulls making it clear the Ecuador international would not leave this month.

The Gunners moved instead to strengthen their squad with a proven performer, swifty completing a deal for Jorginho, whose contract with Chelsea was set to expire at the end of the season.

Jorginho's arrival comes amid concern for Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, who was withdrawn in Friday's FA Cup defeat to Manchester City with an apparent rib injury, while Mohamed Elneny has been sidelined with what Arsenal described as a "significant" knee problem.

A Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2020-21, Jorginho was also part of the Italy squad that won the Euro 2020 title.

Arteta said of his new recruit: "Jorginho is a midfield player with intelligence, deep leadership skills and a huge amount of Premier League and international experience. Jorginho has won in his career, but he still has the hunger and huge willingness to contribute here.

"We are so pleased to sign Jorginho and welcome him and his family to the club."

Gunners sporting director Edu said on Arsenal's website: "Jorginho is an established professional with a strong mentality who brings quality and experience into our squad.

"He is a player who fits our style of play, and he joins us at a very good moment where he can contribute in a key position to help maintain our momentum. We welcome Jorginho to Arsenal."

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed Thomas Partey will undergo an MRI scan after picking up a knock that forced him off at half-time in Friday's 1-0 FA Cup loss to Manchester City.

The Ghanaian midfielder started the game but did not return after the break, replaced by Albert Sambi Lokonga, before Nathan Ake netted the 64th-minute winner.

Partey has been a near ever-present for Arsenal this term, making 16 Premier League starts but may be set for a stint on the sidelines with an apparent rib issue.

"He felt something and we didn't want to take any risks, so he could not continue," Arteta told reporters. "He had some discomfort and it was getting worse and worse.

"Tomorrow or the day after we'll have to have an MRI scan and see what he has."

Arteta would not be drawn on whether Partey's potential injury means they need to invest in midfield reinforcements during the January transfer window.

"At the moment we've had the injury of Mo [Elneny] – it's been impossible to get him fit," Arteta said.

"Sambi's come in and I think he's done well. That's why we have players. It's true that Thomas is a big influence, a big personality and an important player in our squad. In the second half, we didn't have him."

Arteta would not be drawn on speculation linking the Gunners with a £60million bid for Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Felipe Caicedo either. The Ecuadorian took to social media on Friday to plead with his club to let him go.

"You know that I'm not going to comment on any players until anything is done," Arteta said.

'"As I said before, we've been pretty active in the market. We have some necessities and if something else is available, the club is willing to try to do it when it's reasonable.

"Hopefully [that would be] a player that can improve our squad."

Mikel Arteta saw Arsenal's FA Cup hopes ended by Manchester City and took issue with the defending that allowed Nathan Ake to score the only goal at the Etihad Stadium.

The Spaniard has been a winner in the competition as a player and as a head coach with the Gunners, but this will not be the London club's year for Wembley glory.

Their chief focus is on the Premier League, which they lead by five points from City with a game in hand, but these teams must meet twice in that competition before the end of the season.

Arsenal have now lost 13 of their past 14 games against City in all competitions, including six in a row, and Arteta was left to rue one lapse in concentration in Friday's fourth-round tussle.

He told ITV: "We're disappointed. I think we could have got much more from the game.

"It was a really tight match, a really competitive game, and an action decided the game and unfortunately we are out."

Assessing Ake's 64th-minute winner, Arteta said: "I think we could have defended that much better, in the discipline that we need in the box to stay with their runners."

Arsenal only had five goal attempts, with just one in the second half as City dominated, but their boss felt they still had opportunities to get at the Premier League champions.

"We had big situations there, and we didn't put them away and in these games we need to do that," he said.

"We can take lots of positives. The way we approached the game and the way we competed in the game was really good, because it's very hard to do it against this incredible team.

"We played face to face against them. [We] know that in big moments, in big matches, you have to make a difference and that's how you win against these teams."

Reports have claimed Gabriel Martinelli, used as a substitute in this game, has agreed a new four-and-a-half-year contract with Arsenal, but Arteta refused to discuss the Brazil winger's future.

"I don't talk about anything about our players till it's done," he said.

Mikel Arteta has paid tribute to Pep Guardiola ahead of their FA Cup fourth round clash.

The Arsenal manager worked under Guardiola at Manchester City before taking charge at Emirates Stadium in December 2019, and is now in the middle of a title race in the Premier League with his former mentor.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Friday's game between the Gunners and City and the Etihad Stadium, Arteta said he was inspired by Guardiola, and compared his impact on football to that of Johan Cruyff.

"I feel gratitude, first of all, because he inspired me as a player, and he inspired me and gave me the opportunity as a coach," the Spaniard said. 

"I wouldn't probably have had the career that I had as a player, the understanding of the game or the purpose that I had as a player if he hadn't been at that time at Barcelona.

"And I wouldn't be sitting here and having that willingness and that love for coaching if we hadn't crossed in my life and he hadn't given the opportunity that he gave me. That's it."

Arteta spent three years as a player in Barcelona's C and B teams before leaving for Rangers in 2002, while Guardiola was a part of the Blaugrana's first team at the same time.

"I was looking at him and I just wanted to do it what he was doing," Arteta explained. "And I loved the way he played and the way he was transmitting on the pitch and his understanding what was happening on the pitch. It was an inspiration, since I was 18 years old."

Guardiola helped turn Barca into a dominant force as a head coach, before successful spells at Bayern Munich and City, and Arteta said he has picked up a lot from working with him closely.

"I think the influence that Pep has had on football in the past 20 years, it's just incredibly powerful," he said. "He changed the game, like Johan did in the past... we have been inspired by a lot of things that he's done. 

"Everyone has to build his own career and his own pathway. A career is not for six months, or a year, or two years. Let's see and let everybody develop the way that they should."

Mikel Arteta would have been an ideal replacement for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

That is according to Guardiola himself, who had Arteta as part of his coaching staff at the Etihad Stadium from 2016 up until Arsenal hired their former midfielder as Unai Emery's replacement just over three years later.

Arteta has needed time at Arsenal, but this year they are not only title contenders, but hold a healthy five-point lead over City at the summit of the Premier League.

Ahead of the FA Cup fourth-round tie the teams, their first meeting in any competition this season, if Arteta could have replaced him at City, Guardiola told reporters: "I'm pretty sure that if I'd have left before, and he would be here, then he would be the best [replacement], absolutely.

"But I accepted [a new] contract, I'm sorry, and he couldn't wait, so it could not happen, but definitely."

Guardiola might think Arteta would have been the perfect fit, but does the data back that up?

Certainly, Arteta's Arsenal have aimed to emulate Guardiola's City in many aspects.

For example, the inverted full-backs that Guardiola has used on and off over his six-and-a-half years in Manchester are now commonplace at Emirates Stadium, too. 

Indeed, in Sunday's 3-2 win over Manchester United, Arsenal left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko – signed, of course, from City – finished with a touchmap resembling an attacking midfielder, not that of a full-back.

But it is certainly not a case of City Mk. II. No, Arteta has built a team on his own merits.

It has taken time, and an element of risk. Arsenal have made 16 errors leading to goals in the Premier League since he took charge in December 2019, as the Gunners have adapted to the Spaniard's preferred style of play.

Yet that is only four more than City. This approach comes with risk, but the rewards are clear to see.

Arsenal have scored 193 top-flight goals under Arteta, with 45 coming this season from just 19 games. They are well on track to smash the high watermark of 61, set last term. In that same time, City have netted 290 times, but it's fair to say they have had better players than Arteta has had to call on.

Defensively, the difference is not as great, with Arsenal conceding 124 to City's 94, though the Gunners boast a better defensive record this season than City.

Indeed, Arteta has overseen steady improvement in the attack. Arsenal's expected goals (xG) went from 52.2 in his first full campaign to 69.6 last season, while the development of Martin Odegaard, Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli has demonstrated the 40-year-old's ability to help youngsters thrive.

Given his work with those players, it is hard to imagine Arteta would have failed to get a tune out of Phil Foden or City's other emerging talents.

Defensively, Arsenal were tighter in the 2020-21 season than in 2021-22 (an xGA of 43.3 compared to 51.8), but their 17.2 xGA this season tells the story of a well-drilled defensive unit.

While Arteta values possession, an average of 53.5 over his 116 league games in charge is not quite at the level of City's 66.2 in the same timeframe. 

The similarities are clear, though Arsenal – at least this season – have slightly more dynamism. The fitness of Thomas Partey has been crucial to that, as has the reemergence of Granit Xhaka as an excellent box-to-box midfielder.

The data suggests Arteta could well have taken over from Guardiola in the north west, and perhaps he still might one day.

For now, he will be looking to get one over on his old mentor in the cup, and then complete the job in the league.

Pep Guardiola claimed working with Mikel Arteta made him a "better manager" ahead of Friday's FA Cup reunion.

Guardiola's Manchester City side host Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in the fourth round, the first clash this season between the current top two sides in the Premier League.

Arteta will return to Manchester for the game, having spent three years working as Guardiola's assistant after he ended his playing career in 2016.

The Gunners boss has spoken of the impact of his former mentor and how their partnership helped to craft him into a manager, having left City for Arsenal in 2019.

It was not just a one-way street though, with Guardiola revealing he benefitted similarly from working alongside his Spanish compatriot.

"He said he would like to work together and that he can help because he knows the Premier League perfectly, he knows all the managers," Guardiola told a press conference.

"I remember the first game, we played against Sunderland and against David Moyes. He said he knows him well from Everton, he does this, he does that, all the strategies and the pieces.

"After 15 minutes, half an hour, I knew he was the man, the guy to help me. If you can have someone who can anticipate and has the knowledge of what it is like to go to Stoke City away, to go to every stadium, a guy who has been there for many years.

"So, we started to work together. I don't know what my part on him was, but his influence on me was great, it was massive and so important to be a better manager."

Even in his years with City, Guardiola knew Arteta retained an allegiance to Arsenal, where he was a former club captain. Guardiola revealed Arteta never used to celebrate goals against the side he skippered in the final two years of his playing career.

"I know he went to his team, his club, the team he dreamed of. He was a supporter, he played there, he was captain there, he loves that club," Guardiola said.

"I remember when we worked together here, we'd score a lot of goals and he was always jumping and celebrating, except against one team. Against this team, we'd score a goal, I'd jump, I'd turn and he was sitting there – it was Arsenal."

Arteta has made Arsenal the team to beat in this season's Premier League, with the Gunners five points clear of City, also boasting a game in hand.

Guardiola said Arteta's move to Arsenal made complete sense.

"It's like me, if I was training here as assistant coach and Barcelona called me, I would go," Guardiola said. "It is my club. I'm not the person to say he must stay here with me, he has a contract. People have to fly when they believe it's best for them.

"For players, I've said it many times, if they're not happy they have to leave. Life is too short, especially for players, to spend time in a place that you don't like, that's treated you bad or whatever. That's what it is."

Last Sunday had the potential to change everything in the Premier League title race. Instead, it changed nothing.

Arsenal ended the weekend as they started it: five points clear of Manchester City with a game in hand.

Mikel Arteta's men took seven points from consecutive matches against third-placed Newcastle United, fifth-placed Tottenham and fourth-placed Manchester United.

They have passed the various tests left before them and maintained a healthy lead over City.

But they still have not played City themselves this season. That will change on Friday – just not in the Premier League.

The FA Cup fourth-round draw paired England's best two teams, providing a warm-up at the Etihad Stadium for their Emirates Stadium league clash in February.

These coming encounters are likely to bring more pressure for Arteta and Arsenal, who are without a title since 2004 and unfamiliar with such high-stakes matches of late.

The manager perhaps has a decision to make then on how to approach this cup tie – both in terms of his personnel and their approach.

When Arsenal exited the EFL Cup at home to Brighton and Hove Albion in early November, they did so with a team showing 10 changes to the line-up from their prior league win at Chelsea.

But does Arteta want to shuffle the pack again here and give the upper hand to City ahead of a far more important game in three weeks' time?

Speaking on Wednesday, Arteta weighed up the merits of cup progress – "that gives you more momentum, more confidence and prepares you better for the next match," he said – but he was also certain the league and cup matches would be "two very, very different games".

That was the case in Arsenal's double-winning campaign of 2001-02, when the Gunners beat eventual Premier League runners-up Liverpool at this stage of the FA Cup. That blood-and-thunder cup tie followed a fortnight after a tepid league draw.

Arsene Wenger praised the "outstanding" mental fortitude of his side, who were second at that point but did not lose another domestic match all season.

It was one of 16 examples – across 13 ties – in the Premier League era of the teams who finished first and second meeting in the FA Cup, EFL Cup or Champions League in the same season.

Although Arsenal's win against Liverpool was one of only seven victories for the league champions in those 16 attempts, another was the Gunners' round five win against Chelsea two years later, which was followed in their very next match by three points at Stamford Bridge that took them seven clear at the top.

Some consolation saw the Blues eliminate Arsenal from the Champions League later that season – a two-legged quarter-final tie around which Wenger's men stuttered in the league but clung to their unbeaten record.

In those cases, it appeared Arsenal benefited from getting a good look at their rivals in the first game before winning the second, precisely as Arteta suggested.

Meanwhile, the fear of losing momentum is understandable. Arsenal have played twice more against top-two rivals in the FA Cup and lost twice to Manchester United, who went on to take the title in both 1998-99 and 2002-03.

Such is the feel-good factor at Emirates Stadium right now, it is difficult to imagine defeat away to City with a much-changed team would dent Arsenal's confidence too significantly.

But heading home with a win on Friday would surely only increase belief in this side further.

Given the eight-day gap before the next Premier League match, Arteta – whose only major silverware to date was the FA Cup in 2019-20 – might be wise to consider this a helpful test rather than an unwanted distraction.

Mikel Arteta is not enjoying battling Pep Guardiola for honours, describing the "challenge" he faces in taking on someone he considers a close friend.

Arteta spent three and a half years as Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City before taking the manager's job at Arsenal.

After finishing eighth, eighth and fifth in the Premier League in his first three seasons in charge at Emirates Stadium, only now has Arteta put together a team capable of matching City.

Arsenal are five points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand over Guardiola's second-placed side.

Seeing City suffer is not easy for Arteta, however, given his attachment to his former boss.

Ahead of an FA Cup tie between the two sides, their first meeting this season, Arteta said: "I would prefer to do it with someone else, to be fair.

"I want the best for him, genuinely the best for him, and when you're challenging like this, something comes in between.

"It's a strange feeling. It is what it is, and that's our challenge."

However, with City the standard-bearers in English football, Arteta knew this day would come if he was going to turn Arsenal into contenders again.

"I always hoped that was going to be the case one day, and it's happening this season," he said.

"Obviously that's not going to change any friendship, the moments we had, how important he is in my life, how important he is in my profession.

"We're both wanting to win and defend our clubs the best possible way. That's always been the case since day one."

Mikel Arteta expects to learn a lot about Arsenal from their FA Cup clash with Manchester City, even if that match is "very, very different" from next month's Premier League encounter.

Leaders Arsenal are yet to meet second-placed City in the league this season, but Arteta's men have forged a five-point gap to the defending champions with a game in hand.

It means their first meeting of the campaign will come instead in the fourth round of the cup, where the Arsenal manager plans to measure his team against elite opposition.

"It's a big test for us against, in my opinion, the best football team in the world," Arteta said.

"We're looking forward to it, because it's going to tell us a lot about where we are."

That tie will take place at the Etihad Stadium, before the teams do battle in the league at Emirates Stadium next month.

Asked how one result might impact on the other, Arteta was dismissive.

"I think they're going to be two very, very different games," he said. "The context is extremely different. Let's see."

The numbers bear that out, with Pep Guardiola winning 13 of his 16 matches against Arsenal as City manager but suffering his only two defeats in this fixture in their two FA Cup clashes. Arsenal have won four in a row against City in this competition.

Arteta added: "Obviously it's important to play well and to win; that gives you more momentum, more confidence and prepares you better for the next match. That's our focus, to do that on Friday."

Former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas believes the club are unrecognisable from the side he represented, due to manager Mikel Arteta's impact.

A last-gasp Eddie Nketiah winner against Manchester United at Emirates Stadium on Sunday handed the Gunners a 3-2 victory, maintaining a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

Now considered to be the favourites for the title, Arsenal have enjoyed a remarkable resurgence under Arteta, who has made wholesale changes at the club.

Fabregas has revealed that a recent trip to London Colney showed "everything had changed" since his days at Arsenal, including an image at the entrance that highlights Arsenal's 19-year wait for Premier League glory.

"I was lucky enough to be at the training ground recently and it felt like I had never been there before because everything had changed so much," he told Sky Sports.

"The manager of the training ground told me that 95 per cent of the changes were Mikel's.

"He's changed the perception of the club, a lot of positive messages around the training ground, much bigger facilities, better equipment, the pitches are better. Everything, you name it.

"In the entrance they have a symbol of the Premier League, an empty Premier League. Arteta wants to send the message that: 'guys, we need to put the work in'.

"It's a message and inspiration to the players for them to really want to put the Premier League in there. He's changed the mentality of the club since Arsene Wenger left. It's fantastic what he's done."

Fabregas also highlighted the vast improvement on the field that has seen the Gunners quickly jump from top-four hopefuls to leading the charge for the Premier League title.

All three of Arsenal's goals against United came from academy graduates, with Nketiah's brace coming either side of a superb Bukayo Saka strike.

"Remember, they finished eighth for two consecutive seasons. To do what they're doing in a short space of time and doing it in the manner they're doing is quite inspiring," he added.

"Arsenal gave time to Mikel and this proves and shows to other clubs to not panic when things go wrong. Sometimes, finishing eighth and almost making it to the Champions League but just falling short, just having that process, and it is a process.

"The club understood that it took time to achieve it. I still believe they are way ahead of where they thought they'd be at this moment.

"Players like Saka and Nketiah, they came from the academy, they cost nothing to the club. And they've maintained that belief and the results are paying off."