Everton manager has said that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has done “unbelievably well” as he coached him as a player.
Arteta played under Moyes when he was in his first spell as Everton manager. The Spanish midfielder was at Goodison Park between 2005 and 2011, making over 200 appearances, with 35 goals and 35 assists under Moyes.
They will now face off at Goodison on Saturday as Arsenal make the trip to Merseyside, looking to get their third Premier League win in a row after a 2-1 win against Fulham during the week. In that game, Bukayo Saka returned from his hamstring injury with a goal after just six minutes.
The two managers are very familiar with each other, and Moyes made that clear in his pre-match press conference, saying that he could tell Arteta could be a good manager from when he knew him as a player.
He said: “I’m thrilled for Mikel, because he’s one of our ex-players and I think any manager is always quite pleased when they see their players go into careers in management and coaching. Mikel always had his own thoughts about it and he was good. He was a good leader as well and became captain here for a long period as well.”
“He’s done unbelievably well. I think he’s worked under the best manager in the world since Sir Alex [Ferguson] in Pep [Guardiola], which has given him a great chance to see other things as well. He’s got a really good balance of seeing what’s required in the UK and from the Spanish side as well.”
Mikel Arteta’s managerial record vs Moyes
Arteta and Moyes have faced each other in 10 games, with Arteta having a very strong record against the Everton boss during his time at West Ham.
Arsenal have won 6 of the 10 meetings, drawn twice and lost twice, and they have the chance for the Gunners to take that record up to seven wins out of 11.
Last time they played Everton, the two teams drew 0-0 in mid-December before Moyes took over when Sean Dyche was still the manager of the Toffees.
