One of the qualities that made Mikel Arteta an attractive proposition to Manchester City was his local knowledge. The ability to quickly debrief Pep Guardiola on where they were headed towards next, in those early years when Premier League fans and stadiums were all new.
He’d seen them all – won and lost, sized up the dressing rooms, noticed how tight supporters were to the touchline. There was one place he knew better than the rest, though. Spending six years as a midfielder at Goodison Park before Arsenal, Arteta was able to offer a dossier on what would face City there. The key: be mindful of the crowd’s role in proceedings. For good and for bad.
Guardiola was given a rude awakening to that on his first visit, a four-goal hiding the Catalan has never forgotten. Each time new signings went to Goodison Park, they were told to be wary of the atmosphere, something always referenced in team meetings, in much the same way as the time Guardiola told his squad to be aware that the London Stadium’s atmosphere resembles a friendly.
There is an affinity with the Grand Old Lady, what it symbolises about English football and what Guardiola loves about the culture. An affinity clearly helped by the fact that after the first season, he won the next nine, including an FA Cup tie.
The majority of those were hard fought. Two goals in the last six minutes to win games last season and in 2021. A Phil Foden winner in the last 10 minutes four years ago when arguments raged about the Rodri ‘handball’. Going behind in December 2023 too. Despite the enviable record, City didn’t have it all their own way at the north end of Stanley Park.
In going to the Hill Dickinson, Monday night will likely represent the final first of Guardiola’s reign. It doesn’t yet boast the same formidable charm of its predecessor and Everton don’t appear to feel properly at home either, winning six of their 17 Premier League games there. As with so many others in new stadiums, these things take a while. Nevertheless, for City it is about coping with an unfamiliar environment at a stage of the season when they cannot afford to drop points.
Pep Guardiola knows how difficult Everton away is for his title-chasing Manchester City side
In January 2017, Guardiola saw his City side thrashed 4-0 at Everton’s old Goodison Park
‘Goodison Park, Fulham, Selhurst Park, there are stadiums that are special and I like it,’ said a reflective Guardiola. ‘I remember years ago going to one game involving Neil Warnock with my son, Marius. We took a car for one or two hours, and we saw the game in the winter time. Neil has trained 20,000 million teams, so I don’t remember which team it was!’
While viewing it a fair amount at home, Guardiola has not made a habit of attending lower-league football over his decade here. But the images of him sitting next to Stockport County owner Mark Stott last Tuesday, watching the Hatters lose against Port Vale while the game of the year was unfolding in the French capital, did go some way to revealing the depth of relationships he has formed here. Stott is a friend and the open invite was delivered years ago.
City’s manager was fielding tens of texts about Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-4 win over Bayern Munich while sat in the directors’ box at Edgeley Park.
Guardiola laughed that he picked the wrong day to support Stockport, who are in League One’s play-offs. ‘Messages, messages, messages, “Are you watching the game?! How good is this?!” No, I’m not watching the game. So it was hard.’
The 55-year-old went home to City Suites, a complex run by Stott, and immediately watched the entire PSG match. On Monday he sat through Manchester United’s win over Brentford, whom City host on Saturday. And on Wednesday, he saw Arsenal’s tempestuous Champions League semi-final at Atletico Madrid. Even allowing for a bit of golf across the three days off, it was all football and work for a man desperate to clinch a seventh league crown. Now it’s the dash to the finish, even if he is more serene now than 12 months ago.
‘The hours before games I feel [pressure] but the process between games I am more calm,’ Guardiola said. ‘Last season was 24 hours thinking what will happen at the club if we will not qualify for the Champions League. I felt it a lot.
‘I can’t imagine teams who are [trying] to not be relegated because it changes clubs. Players change, financially you can’t invest in good players and in the end that is the reason why teams have success.
‘This season we won the Carabao Cup, in the FA Cup final again and still fighting against this Arsenal, so what can I say? It is really good.
‘I am here working on my day off. I wouldn’t be here for 10 years, even with good titles, if there wasn’t an incredible environment.
‘Aymeric Laporte said it perfectly in a Spanish newspaper, that City is the best club in the world, you never realise how good they are, how incredibly organised, until you leave. And that is the biggest compliment we can get.
‘And that’s why I am here. The club is really, really extraordinary. It’s like a bubble that makes people feel good.’
