For some years now, Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola have been managerial rivals with their respective side Arsenal and Manchester City battling it out for the title.
So far, it has been a one-sided rivalry in terms of trophies, with Arsenal finishing second in the Premier League three years on the trot.
City, on the other hand, have won two titles in that time with Liverpool claiming the other.
This season, the Gunners are leading the charge in the Premier League by four points - ahead of City - with 15 games left to go.
Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola are battling it out for the title
|REUTERS
But before Arteta took charge of Arsenal in 2019, he worked under Guardiola as his assistant coach at the Etihad.
It was here where Arteta learned his craft, joining the Catalan coach at City in 2016 after he was appointed as Manuel Pellegrini's successor.
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Mikel Arteta started his coaching career at Manchester City where he was Pep Guardiola's assistant manager
| PAAfter forging his own managerial path at Arsenal, Arteta has since reflected on his long relationship with his old mentor.
He said: "We don't talk like with my wife every three days but we talk generally.
"He talks about how he feels and that's it. If there are mind games, there are mind games but I don't pay too much attention because at the end you have to go on the pitch and deliver.
"For me the surprising thing would be not to [maintain that relationship].
"I think it would be a really bad example for sport. In sport you have to learn and probably the biggest lesson that sport has given us is the relationship that for example that Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer had.
"I am not at that level at all.
Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola still remain close
|GETTY
"But one of the best in the history, or the two best sportsmen, the relationship they have between them when they have to play a final, one against one against each other so how the hell am I not going to have a great relationship with someone that I admire, I worked with and is a colleague?
"But it is the same as any other opponent. When it goes to the court, to the pitch, that's for the winner."
Arteta first met Guardiola when he was coming up through Barcelona's academy.
Guardiola was already an established first-team player for Los Cules, being 11 years older, nevertheless the two kept contact.