Mikel Arteta answered “Yes” when asked at Arsenal's London Colney headquarters whether his conscience was clear over Manchester City's rule breaches. He would not go much further than that. The former City assistant, who worked under Pep Guardiola from 2016 to 2019 before joining Arsenal in 2019, kept returning to the same point, the process is still not finished.
Arteta's line on the City case
Manchester City were found guilty by an independent commission of breaching more than 100 financial regulations, but Arteta refused to treat that as the end of the matter. “The process has been going for various years. That process is still not finished. So, it is very difficult to express how I feel, because it is not resolved,” he said.
He added: “We need to trust that the people in charge will resolve it in the timeframe that they believe is the best for everybody.” When he was asked whether he had spoken to Guardiola, he shut that down too. “I prefer not to answer those questions.”
Arsenal's focus moves to Leeds
Arteta did not say the City case gives Arsenal any advantage. “I don’t know,” he said when asked if it could help in the title race, and then added: “That’s something that’s not in our hands.”
His immediate concern is Arsenal vs Leeds at the Emirates on Saturday, coming after the 3-0 defeat to Brighton before the international break. Arsenal have won four of their last five Premier League matches and sit second with 12 points from five games, while Manchester City have won all five and lead with 15 points. Arteta said the Brighton loss still has to sting: “The pain is still in the tummy and tomorrow we certainly have to play with that because it (the loss at Brighton) was a lesson for us.”
The case is still live, Arsenal have Leeds next, and Arteta is not moving off his line until the process is resolved.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
