Mikel Arteta hails his trump card in keeping Erling Haaland quiet - 'He enjoys it'

Go there and win. This was the simplicity with which Mikel Arteta described the task at hand that his Arsenal side faces on Sunday when Manchester City arrive in North London.

Arsenal were handed one of the trickiest gauntlets of any side in the Premier League to start the season. Already having travelled to Anfield, losing desperately and unfortunately to Liverpool, they are now facing another title challenger within the first five matches.

Arteta faces increasing pressure to deliver the dream accolades for Arsenal and a win over City this early would certainly add belief to both his team and supporters. Equally, the other side of the sword would condemn the Gunners to back-to-back defeats in both their opening title-defining clashes.

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“Yes, obviously winning those matches creates that conviction that you can go and win the game but not [just] against them, against any opposition,” Arteta stated. “That's the feeling I have now with the team and the players individually that we go to Sunday and we are there to win the game. That's it.”

History tells us, however, that these games have grown to become more than just about winning and losing and even greater than the impact on the title race. A rivalry that has existed exclusively in the modern era, brought about by their presence in chasing the top honours.

The narratives have grown, with Erling Haaland’s arrival in Manchester a catalyst. Yet in the last four meetings, the Gunners have restricted the clinical Norwegian to very little and in so doing Manchester City, in general, have looked lacking in prospects.

Gabriel Magalhaes has been a central figure to Arsenal’s success in conceding just four against City in their last four league meetings while they themselves have scored eight, winning twice at home, drawing the other two at the Etihad Stadium.

“Well, it's his qualities,” Arteta said on the Brazilian stalwart’s capacity to stop Haaland. “One of them is that he can get up to anybody in the world.

“He's someone that really enjoys the defensive part, the contact, the physicality. When the game has to get to that part, he enjoys it. That's a big quality to have, and it's very needed with someone like him as well, who is so physical. You need to have those qualities to be efficient.”

Although, when drawn on comparisons to classic striker-defender rivalries like Ruud van Nistelrooy and Martin Keown, he stopped short of making the link.

“I don't know,” he said. “I think it's efficiency, the word that you want to use with defenders. In relation to the quality of your opponent, how you're going to adapt your qualities to resolve a lot of situations. If you don't have to have any contact and it's not needed, even better. But Gabi has both, I think.”

Myles Lewis-Skelly, too, has engaged in some controversial celebration antics, copying Haaland’s celebration when scoring the third goal in the 5-1 win last season. Arteta, however, made his thoughts very clear on the matter,

“Well, that was done, that's it. That's part of it. They've been in a lot of celebrations and non-celebrations with the past from a lot of teams. That's it. We learn [from] that, and every experience is to learn as well, and we certainly learned from that one.”

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