Lee Dixon has urged Mikel Arteta not to try and outthink Pep Guardiola as the two managers get set for this weekend's huge top of the table clash.
The Gunners currently lead the way in the Premier League, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference and a point better off than third-place Manchester City as they prepare to travel to The Etihad on Sunday.
Ahead of the game, former Arsenal defender Dixon has told BetVictor that he believes Arteta should concentrate on his own tactics and not try and second guess what Manchester City and former mentor Guardiola will try and do.
"It is a possibility that Arsenal will go to the Etihad and look to play on the break," Dixon said.
"Mikel Arteta will be scrutinising last year’s performance when they got beaten 4-1 and he’ll be rethinking his game plan. He may look at his team and think they’ve developed and are better than they were last year so they can afford to play on the front foot.
“There will be mind games going on between Arteta and Pep Guardiola. Sometimes Pep makes a change and everyone says that he’s overthinking and sometimes that is true, but the majority of the time he is so clever when it comes to just tweaking something that doesn’t seem that different and you can’t work it out.
“Arteta’s biggest headache will be just trying to stay in the moment with his team, rather than trying to overthink what Pep is doing. If you do that you’ll end up in trouble – he’ll see what is happening once the game starts. City will set up as if they’re just going to play their normal game and Arsenal have developed enough to adapt to any changes throughout the 90 minutes.”
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