Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has given his thoughts on this season's Premier League title race ahead of this weekend's clash with current champions Manchester City. The Gunners rivaled City all the way throughout last campaign and will be hopeful of doing so again this year.

The north Londoners led the way for the majority of the previous season as they seemed destined to end their league title drought. However, a late collapse saw them miss out to serial winner Pep Guardiola, though they have no plans of going away from the fight at the top any time soon.

Over £200million was invested in the squad to boost it to that next level, which has seen a decent enough start to their first few games. Arsenal are currently unbeaten in the league, with five wins and two draws to their name, which keeps them just one point behind Man City.

With a head-to-head between the two title hopefuls playing out over the weekend, a win for either could give one of them the slight advantage going forwards. Guardiola gave his thoughts on the Gunners in his pre-match press conference, saying: "They [Arsenal] are a good team, second they make man marking sometimes, allow you to do some process but after they are so aggressive. They have a clear pattern and really good team.

"They fought to be champions and now they're here again. Arsenal are back. When I was a young boy and at Barcelona, Arsenal always were there I saw them fighting with Fergy's [Sir Alex Ferguson] teams but now they're back. When you look at the calendar, going to the Emirates is one of the toughest ones."

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Having worked at City as Guardiola's assistant manager, Arteta is set for yet another reunion, but one that he will be hopeful is more successful than previous league meetings. When asked if the result will impact the title race, the Spaniard replied: "We are not looking that far that’s for sure. One thing is for certain is that we will have to be at our best."

It remains to be seen whether there will be a direct impact on the title race from this game come the end of the season, but there's a long way to go before then.