Premier League: ‘We want to embrace it and enjoy the moment’ – Arsenal’s Arteta on facing Manchester City

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants his team to enjoy the moment in Sunday's Premier League clash against a Manchester City side he believes have pushed the level of the game globally and who have the world's best coach in Pep Guardiola.

Arsenal, who face an anxious wait to see if Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes will be fit for the match, top the Premier League table with 10 games to go in a nail-biting title race on 64 points, while holders City are third on 63. Liverpool are second with 64.

A victory would end Arsenal's nine-year winless drought at the Etihad and be a massive boost to their title hopes.

«We've done a lot already to be in the position that we are and now we have to embrace and enjoy the moment and go for it,» Arteta told reporters on Friday.

"(City) have raised the bar in this league, I think in football in general, to a level that hadn't been seen before," he added. «And that's the beauty of the sport, that makes you better, that challenges you more and you have to keep up with that pace. And that's what we are trying to do.»

The Gunners have kept pace and more in recent weeks, winning their last eight league games while scoring an astounding 33 goals.

Arteta was an assistant under Guardiola at City before taking the managerial reins at Arsenal, and the two Spaniards' friendship goes back to their days as players. Sitting in opposing dugouts, however, has meant a change in their relationship.

«It has to change, (but) my admiration for him certainly not,» Arteta said of Guardiola. «My opinion is he is the best coach in the world by a mile and he's one of the nicest people I have met in football.

»But our roles at the moment are where they are and it has to adapt to the situation.