Pep Guardiola says he is excited to be reunited with Mikel Arteta when his Manchester City side play Arsenal on Wednesday night.
Arteta was Guardiola's assistant coach for three-and-a-half seasons and will be returning to the Etihad Stadium for the first time since leaving in December to become Arsenal head coach.
The Gunners boss established himself as one of the most promising young coaches during his time working with Guardiola, helping City to win back-to-back Premier League titles.
Ahead of Arsenal's clash against City, Guardiola admits meeting up with Arteta again will be nice, but he is cautious of the inside knowledge that the Gunners head coach brings with him, having worked so closely with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss.
"I’m so excited to see him, one of the nicest people I ever met," he said in his pre-match press conference, as reported by the Manchester Evening News.
"It was a joy for me and for all of us to work with him. The feeling I have is he’s happy there and doing an incredible job.
"I’m looking forward to seeing him. This game belongs to the players, they make the difference. He knows absolutely everything of us, he was an incredibly important part of our success, he helped us to be who were were and who we are.
"We are delighted he will come back, especially if he is happy there. We sent a message an hour and a half ago. It was about the wine we are going to drink after the game if social distance allows!"
Guardiola posted another message on Wednesday on his Instagram account, uploading a picture of the pair.
'Excited to see @mikelarteta again,' the caption read.
'He is an incredibly important part of our recent success and one of the nicest people I've ever met.'
