Arsenal have several historic rivalries in the Premier League, but in recent years, a new bitter rival has emerged in the form of Manchester City. 

The past two Premier League seasons resulted in a title fight between the Gunners and City with Mikel Arteta’s side finishing five points behind their rivals in 2022/23 and just two points behind in 2023/24.

Arsenal will yet again challenge Pep Guardiola’s side for the Premier League title this season as they aim for their first since the 2003/04 season when the famous ‘Invincibles’ lifted the trophy.

Unlike Arsenal’s traditional rivalries such as the North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur or their historic dislike of Manchester United, their clashes with City have only produced more fireworks in recent seasons.

Here we take a look into Arsenal’s newest historic rivalry; one that could be looked upon in the same vein as Spurs and United in several decades’ time after what we can imagine will be more battles for the Premier League title.

Mikel Arteta: From Pep Guardiola’s Apprentice to his bitter rival

The Arsenal manager never played for both Arsenal and City as a player, however when he retired, the Spaniard had three choices to pick from.

He was offered jobs leading the Arsenal academy, to join the backroom staff at Spurs under Mauricio Pochettino or to join Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City.

He picked the latter which proved to be a good decision for the Spaniard as he won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two Carabao Cups with the Cityzens.

Following Unai Emery’s departure from Arsenal, Mikel Arteta became heavily linked with the job for which he eventually took in December 2019, becoming a competitor to Guardiola rather than an assistant.

Arteta got his first crack against City in June 2020 when the season had been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The game was played at the Etihad with a 3-0 win for Pep Guardiola’s side in which goals came from Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden.

However, it didn’t take long for Arsenal to beat City under Arteta as just a month later, the two sides met in an FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley where the Gunners won 2-0 thanks to two goals from Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang.

Arteta’s side went on to win the FA Cup and their first and only trophy under Arteta so far in his career at the Emirates.

In 2022, Arsenal began the season impressively and continued to keep pace with Manchester City, this eventually led to a title fight between the two sides, allowing the rivalry to spark between Guardiola and Arteta.

Manchester City’s dominance against Mikel Arteta’s Gunners

Despite the success that Arteta had in the 2020 FA Cup, Manchester City had the number of Arsenal for several years since. After the Semi-Final win, the Gunners lost the next eight meetings with Pep Guardiola’s side in all competitions.

During that time, the fixture produced an aggregate scoreline of 21-4 to City as most importantly for Guardiola, they did the double over the Gunners in the 2022/23 season when Arsenal finished just five points behind.

If Mikel Arteta’s side could have figured out City earlier, they may have won a Premier League title by now. However, it isn’t all doom and gloom as historically, Arsenal have the better of their sky-blue rivals.

The two sides have met a total of 212 times with the first being on November 11 1893 when Woolwich Arsenal beat Ardwick 1-0 in the second division.

Overall, Arsenal have won 100 of the 212 meetings with City winning 65 and 47 matches drawn between the two sides. However, in modern history, the Gunners are yet to figure out how to get the better of Guardiola’s Manchester City…or are they?

A shift in the atmosphere? – The most recent meeting of Arsenal and City

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal came into the new season with a very clear goal, to win the Premier League title. But based on the past two seasons, they had always struggled to get the better of their title rivals.

They won just one of four meetings between the two sides in the league over the past two seasons, however, something felt different about the two sides’ battle this year.

Arsenal made the trip to the Etihad Stadium on September 22 2024 in a clash that was expected to have sparks flying, goals and a hostile crowd.

It delivered to every inch of itself with the home team taking the lead after just nine minutes from who else but Erling Haaland. Arsenal then hit back in the 22nd minute with a wonder strike from defender Riccardo Calafiori which stunned the Etihad.

To add to the drama, Arsenal took the lead from a corner after Gabriel headed in his second goal in two games to put the Gunners ahead just before halftime. However, eight minutes into added time Belgian midfielder Leandro Trossard was sent off so Arteta now had to rally his side to hold onto the lead with just 10 men.

There was no way that the Gunners would have held onto the lead, but they almost lasted the distance as John Stones scored City’s equaliser in the 98th minute of the game which led to the points getting shared.

However, for what felt like the first time, Arsenal were the better side and more importantly, it felt as though Mikel Arteta’s side had rattled Manchester City – something that nobody has been able to do under Pep Guardiola.

Only time will tell if the Gunners really have got the better of City this season, but all may become clear when they next meet on February 1 2025  at the Emirates Stadium just after the January transfer window.

Former Manchester City players in the Arsenal squad

Mikel Arteta hasn’t just taken tactical knowledge from Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, but he has also taken a number of ex-City players into his squad.

In Arsenal’s current squad, there are three former Manchester City players, two of which the Gunners signed directly from their rivals. Both Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus signed for Arsenal in the summer of 2022, just before they challenged City for the title.

Zinchenko joined for a fee of £30 million whereas Gabriel Jesus joined for £45 million straight from the Etihad to the Emirates.

The other name that now plays for Arsenal is loanee Raheem Sterling who joined the Gunners this summer from Chelsea on a season-long loan deal.

Sterling moved to Stamford Bridge from City for a fee of £47.5 million and he is now likely to challenge the Cityzens for the Premier League title with Arteta and Arsenal.