Mikel Arteta admits he must 'seek excellence' as the only way to match Klopp and Guardiola

The Arsenal manager recently discussed how Jurgen Klopp and his former mentor, Pep Guardiola, have served as sources of inspiration for him in his quest to bring his team back to the top.

He credits the two with being the driving force behind his success in leading Arsenal back to the top and challenging for trophies. As for him, feeling the pressure to compete with the two top coaches and wanting to come out on top has kept him going. He is determined to lead Arsenal to Premier League glory, a feat that the club hasn’t achieved in the past two decades.

“It’s a challenge, but at the same time, it’s very inspiring,” Arteta said about his firecest rivals. “When you have two of the best managers in the world [Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp] with two huge clubs, competing and facing them in their eyes and willing to be better than them, you learn from it.

“You challenge yourself and seek excellence because it’s the only way to try to beat them.

“We are so lucky that we are fighting to win major trophies. The outcome is going to be decided by small details, but with that journey, you have to really embrace and enjoy the moment.

“We are improving. When you look at the numbers in position with the top teams, it’s really positive.”

We’ll finally discover the 2023–24 Premier League champion in just one week. All Arsenal needs is to win their final two games and hope that Manchester City slips up against either Tottenham or West Ham.

The Gunners have certainly been on fire lately! They’ve won an impressive 14 out of their last 16 league games and only suffered one defeat. For how incredible they’ve been, we can still only hope they end the season as champs.