Pep asks for clarity over Arteta's Man City 'dark arts' comments

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has demanded clarity from Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta over his comments about the Premier League champions’ “dark arts”.

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 men 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.

“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.”

Arteta: I love and admire Pep despite rivalry

Speaking in his own press conference on Friday, Arteta said his personal relationship with Guardiola has not changed despite City and Arsenal battling against each other at the top of the table.

Sunday’s game at the Etihad Stadium saw aggressive scenes at the full-time whistle, with City striker Erling Haaland telling Arteta to “stay humble, eh” while patting the Arsenal manager on the back.

“I love him. I respect him and admire him. I admire his team and everything he does,” says Arteta about his relationship with Guardiola.

“One thing is our professional, another is my personal relationships. If that has to be damaged because we play against each other, then I wouldn’t talk to him any more! That’s not a relationship I consider both of us have. Sport will never get in my way for a personal relationship, for sure.

Further pushed about the criticism of Arsenal’s tactics in Manchester last weekend, Arteta added: “It’s part of what we do. I don’t want to be on YouTube because we’ve been so silly.

“I want to be on YouTube in May because we’ve been done the right things, for the right reasons, and lifting what we want to lift.

“To do that, we have to be efficient in what we do. I didn’t predict to play 56 minutes with 10 men. Sometimes the opponent is better at something in the game.That doesn’t mean they are better, it means they are doing better at that specific thing inside one game.

“When we hear negative criticism after where we are, what we’ve been through in the last three games, that tells you the expectations. We have to raise the levels, that’s it.”

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’re 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 didn’t 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.