Arteta boxes clever as he tries to stun his mentor in a heavyweight contest

THE stakes could not be higher at Emirates Stadium tonight. Victory for Arsenal will move them six points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand.

- Simon Collings

Defeat will mean their title rivals move above them for the first time since August and shift momentum towards the team from the Etihad.

Arsenal have a miserable record against City, losing their past 10 Premier League games against them. Their last win in a League meeting came in 2015, when Arteta was still playing.

As a manager, Arteta has suffered at the hands of Pep Guardiola, who he was assistant to for more than three years at City. The two friends have faced each other eight times, and seven times Arteta has lost, with his solitary win coming in an FA Cup semi-final in 2020.

Now would be the perfect time for the apprentice to get one over on his master.

Tonight's game is one of the biggest at Emirates Stadium since it opened in 2006, not that you would know it listening to the press conferences of both managers yesterday.

Before Guardiola had even started his briefing, the boss shifted focus away from the match by apologising to Steven Gerrard for comments he made about the Liverpool great last week.

Down in London, Arteta pounced on the first question of his press conference to slam VAR official Lee Mason after he failed to rule out Brentford's equaliser on Saturday despite Christian Norgaard and Ethan Pinnock both straying offside in the build-up.