Mikel Arteta opens up on special relationship with "father figure" Mauricio Pochettino

Arsenal meet Chelsea on Tuesday night with Mikel Arteta and Mauricio Pochettino in opposing dugouts a good quarter of a century on from their time together as players at Paris Saint-Germain

Mikel Arteta will face the managerial rival he regards as a “father figure” and one of the biggest influences of his career.

Arteta goes head-to-head with Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino at the Emirates with more than 25 years of respect built up between them. Gunners boss Arteta, 42, met Pochettino when he first moved to Paris Saint-Germain as a teenager when the former Argentina international was a senior player.

Pochettino, now 52, took Arteta under his wing and the Arsenal manager has regularly turned to his former team-mate for advice throughout his career. Now Pochettino is facing Arteta with his protege desperately needing a win to boost Arsenal’s title race while Chelsea try to navigate a difficult season.

When asked whether Pochettino is a big influence, Arteta said: “For sure. One of the most, I would say. I was 17 or 18 years old in Paris, I was thrown into Paris and it was in January, I think, with no experience of professional football and he doesn’t like me saying it, but he was like a father to me.

“He took me under his arm, he gave me incredible advice, he really helped me, he inspired me and I learned so much from our two years there together and, from there, we maintained that relationship. I knew he was going to be a coach, I admire him a lot for what he’s done in his career and he’s always someone that I look to because he was really impactful for me probably at the most important stage of my professional career.

“It was the beginning and it was one as a role model that I could not pick anybody better than him.” That is some praise from Arteta who, when he first stopped playing, could probably have joined Pochettino’s coaching staff at Tottenham.

But for a former Arsenal captain to defect to Spurs might have been a difficult career move. Arteta went to Manchester City to work under Pep Guardiola but the Spaniard has never forgotten Pochettino’s encouragement and advice.

Arteta said: “When I had to stop, I had to make a decision and I asked him and he gave me some advice and it was needed. It’s just the way he is. He does not need to talk to me about tactics.

Image: Offside / LEquipe) Offside / LEquipe)

"The best influence he had on me is the way he approached life, his profession, his family. Who he was as a figure in that dressing room. The passion and the love he had for the game. For me, that is the most important thing that I learnt from him.”

Arsenal now have a huge month in front of them as they chase down City and have got Liverpool on their tails in a three-horse title race. The pressure is building on Arsenal and Arteta but the manager says his players will be ready for the ensuing storm because they have built up resistance.

Arteta added: “We have excellent professionals as well at the club who are constantly on top of that, much more than me. It is not something you can do on the day, to change the outcome of the next three weeks. It is something that you do daily. I call it a drizzle.

“If you go out there you don’t wear an umbrella, but you are constantly getting wet every single day and then, before you know it, you are soaking wet and you are ready, because it is every single day as a habit.”

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