Pep Guardiola suggests that 26-year-old Arsenal player has improved so much

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Pep Guardiola has suggested Alex Zinchenko has improved this season since he swapped Manchester City for Arsenal.

Guardiola sold the 26-year-old to his former City assistant Mikel Arteta and he has helped the Gunners to the top of the Premier League.

Arsenal and City face each other for the first time this season tonight, in a game which could see Guardiola’s men go top of the league.

The Gunners would still have a game in hand but they would much rather be six points clear with a game in hand at full-time tonight.

Guardiola suggests Zinchenko has improved this season

Speaking to City’s official website before the game, Guardiola said: “Then what happened with Arsenal, Mikel [Arteta] knows him very well because they worked together and he believed in this to try to make our process in build-up a little bit better.

“I’m happy for him. It’s going well.”

Guardiola of course sold another player to Arteta in the summer, Gabriel Jesus, who was instrumental in the title charge before the World Cup but has been injured since.

Some may now doubt Guardiola’s decision to do that but he cannot have top class players at the club unhappy if they are not playing.

With so many players as good as what City have, eventually some are going to become frustrated with their playing time and want to move on.

City have always insisted they will facilitate that as long as a good offer comes in and there are only a few clubs who can afford to buy their players and many of them are in the Premier League.

That is how the moves came about and now Zinchenko is plotting a route past his former employers to lift Arsenal’s first Premier League title since 2004.