Kevin de Bruyne knows Mikel Arteta well and he is delighted to see how well it is going for his former coach with Arsenal, but also hopes that the Gunners will not be good enough for City this year.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 01: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City is tackled by  Takehiro Tomiyasu of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on January 01, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 01: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City is tackled by Takehiro Tomiyasu of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on January 01, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Ask anyone and they will tell you this title is Manchester City’s for the taking.

More and more pundits are admitting that Arsenal look like the only serious challenge, but, ultimately, Pep Guardiola and his superstars are expected to win the Premier League well ahead of Mikel Arteta and his bunch of kids.

Speaking to Sky News, Kevin de Bruyne couldn’t hide his affection for Arteta, who spent the first years of his fledgling coaching career under Guardiola at City after playing under Arsene Wenger.

Others may well be, but the Belgian is not surprised at how well the Spaniard is doing.

“No, not really [surprised],” De Bruyne said.

“Obviously I see a lot of similarities with the way we play, but that’s always been his style.

“When he stopped playing and he had the opportunity to come here I think it was a good learning school and obviously we had great years.

“I saw an evolution from the beginning of Mikel to after three years when he left. At the beginning he was adapting but then he was getting more and more into his role.

“We also saw he had a lot of ambition and when an opportunity came he took that.

“It’s nice to see that he got the time from Arsenal. I’m happy for him that it’s going well. They’re playing really, really, really good football. Hopefully they will just not be good enough for us.”

Arsenal and City were due to go head-to-head at the Emirates on Wednesday 19 October, but due to games being postponed when Queen Elizabeth II died, it has been moved until some time in 2023 to allow Arsenal to fit in their Europa League game against PSV Eindhoven.

As it currently stands, the two sides will not face each other for the first time, unless they are drawn together in the cups, until April 26 at the Etihad.