Arteta explains Man City comments after Pep called for clarity

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has explained his comments about Manchester City’s tactics – clarifying that he knows “everything” about them because of how hard Pep Guardiola’s players and staff work.

Last weekend’s thrilling Super Sunday contest between City and Arsenal saw Arteta’s Gunners draw criticism over their tactics, especially in the second half of the game after they were reduced to 10 players following Leandro Trossard’s red card.

City duo John Stones and Bernardo Silva accused 10-player Arsenal of “time-wasting” and “dirty” tactics after a string of their players went down to receive treatment during a stormy second period – but Arteta then hit back in his next press conference on Tuesday, hinting that City have similar skills up their sleeves.

“I’ve been there [at City] before,” said Arteta, who worked as Guardiola’s assistant before taking the Arsenal job. “I was there for four years. I have all the information, so I know.”

And in his own press conference on Friday, Guardiola called for Arteta to explain his comments, especially in the context of City being charged for 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules. The hearing for that case began earlier this month and City deny the charges.

“Next time, Mikel has to be more clear,” said Guardiola. “He has to be clear next time about exactly what he means that he was here for four years and he knows exactly what happened here.

“Because it could be related to the process with 115 charges, he may know information about that, maybe. I don’t know. Next time, he has to say [it more] clearly. Instead of having clouds there, [he needs] to be more precise.”

Now Arteta has explained his comments, saying he “knows” Man City because of how hard the City players and staff operate.

“I can repeat it very clear: I love Pep, I’ve admired him since I was 10 years old,” Arteta said after Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Leicester.

“I respect him profoundly, I am so grateful for everything he did for me and continues to do for me and I consider him a friend. I love and respect all of the staff there because I worked with them for four years and when I said that I know them, I meant I know how hard they work.

“I haven’t seen a human being work as hard as Pep and the coaches, and everybody in that football club is consistently winning. The reason they are there is because they continue to maintain that hunger. This is exactly what I’ve learned and what I mean, so it cannot be anymore clear than that.

“If you want, I can repeat it, but if someone wants to damage the relationship that’s not in my hands. But that feeling is profound, he knows it, the staff know it, because I still maintain with them today, with the board, with the ownership, with everyone. In sport there has to be a will to win – they have it and I have it.

“We have it for sure because we haven’t won it [Premier League] but they have it even if they have won it more than anybody else here. We have to learn and it has to be inspiring for us, and it is for me – this is what I mean. It’s remarkable what they have achieved because they have that willing mentality. Hopefully that is clear.”

What are the 115 charges against Man City?

Manchester City have been charged with breaking financial fair play rules over a nine-year period, which started in 2009 and went on until 2018. They have also been charged with failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations into their finances.

During that period, Man City, who have denied all the charges against them, won the Premier League three times.

The Premier League’s financial fair play rules are designed to ensure clubs pretty much spend what they earn. You can get around that potentially by inflating how much you are earning or hiding how much you are spending.

According to the Premier League, Man City broke the rules over nine seasons by allegedly failing to provide accurate financial information.

Among the charges against City are that they did not fully disclose the financial remunerations that were made to one of their managers over a four-year period. The suggestion is that there was a secret contract so one of the managers was getting paid much more than officially stated.

What are the possible punishments?

Everything is on the line. The punishment they could get is unlimited. This commission can punish them in any way they see fit.

According to Premier League rules, it can be a points deduction, a fine or even expulsion from the Premier League.

When will the case be heard?

City’s hearing was brought forward to September 16 after it was originally expected to start in November.

It is expected that the formal hearing with the independent commission will go on for around 10 weeks, with both the Premier League and City to make lengthy legal representations, outlining their case.

The independent commission will then go away and consider all the evidence, and consider their decision. That process is expected to take several months because of the volume of charges and the amount of information to be reviewed.

Therefore, it could be March – or later – before a decision by the commission is made public. As soon as they have reached their conclusion, it will be published.