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**Guardiola Takes Jabs at Arteta’s Spending Ahead of Arsenal-City Clash**

**LONDON, United Kingdom** – Ahead of Sunday’s highly anticipated Premier League showdown between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has taken a playful jab at his former assistant and current Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta, regarding the club’s significant spending. The match kicks off at 4:30pm (15:30 GMT) and will be closely followed by fans worldwide.

With both teams looking to gain ground in the early title race, Guardiola playfully suggested that any success Arteta achieves with Arsenal would be solely due to the club’s heavy investment in players. Arsenal’s spending has exceeded 250 million pounds ($337.3m) this season on new signings.

“[…] if he wins the title, it will be just because he spent money, not because he worked hard or because of his players,” Guardiola said tongue-in-cheek, comparing Arsenal’s spending to that of Liverpool. “It’s like Liverpool, too. If Arne [Slot] wins it again, it will be because he spent a lot of money, right? Because it’s not just Man City that [spend], right?“

Guardiola also alluded to differing scrutiny levels for different clubs, saying, “For many, many years, every club can do whatever they want, you know? I know how they’ve been treated is completely different [to City], but what they want to spend is because they want it and it’s fine.”

Despite the playful banter, Guardiola acknowledged the challenge City faces against a strengthened Arsenal side. “They spent what they believe they can to compete against the best teams in the Premier League and Europe, and they’ve reached that level,” he said. “Last season in Europe, they made an incredible step forward, and they are for me the most solid team.”

Arsenal (3-1-0, 9 points) are hoping to bounce back from their only defeat of the season so far, a narrow 1-0 loss to Liverpool, while City (2-2-0, 6 points) are looking to build on their recent wins against Manchester United and Napoli.

Arteta addressed the issue of on-field conduct, particularly referring to Myles Lewis-Skelly’s celebration mimicking Erling Haaland last season. “The experience is to learn and grow as well, and we certainly learnt from that,” he said, hinting that further provocations would be avoided.

Arsenal are hopeful that key players Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Ben White will be fit to participate, with their availability to be confirmed closer to the match.

Possible lineups:
* **Arsenal:** Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Merino, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Gyokeres, Martinelli
* **Manchester City:** Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri, Silva, Reijnders; Foden, Haaland, Doku

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