Proof Mikel Arteta didn't celebrate Manchester City goals against Arsenal when he was assistant manager

Mikel Arteta would passionately celebrate Manchester City goals when he was Pep Guardiola's assistant, apart from against Arsenal.

On Friday night it will be Master vs Apprentice as Premier League champions City entertain title challengers, and leaders, Arsenal in the FA Cup.

The Gunners will be riding high from their win over Manchester United last weekend, with Arteta showing off all his tactical acumen with his brilliant wing play.

That ability, and what's led to the north Londoners being surprise league leaders, was no doubt learnt during his three years as Guardiola's assistant.

Ahead of the game on Friday, Guardiola revealed that his protegee would be extremely passionate on the sidelines during his days at City, something that has been criticised recently.

The former Barcelona boss said that Arteta would celebrate goals against every team, apart from when they scored in games with Arsenal.

"One team every time we score a goal, I jump, look back, and he was sitting there," Guardiola said, "It was Arsenal. It was that moment I said that guy likes Arsenal."

And now someone has uncovered the video proof that the former Gunners' midfielder didn't jump up to celebrate goals against the club he now manages.

And it seems that fans had been noticing the trend for quite some time on social media, often commenting on the fact that the Spaniard wasn't getting in his usual mood after goals in games between the two sides.

"Arteta still not celebrating against Arsenal. Man's already prepping to replace Emery," one comment from 2018 said, and I need to ask that fan for this week's lottery numbers.

Further back, in 2016, another said, "Did anybody else see Mikel Arteta not celebrating that goal?"

"Arteta not celebrating the goals Man City are scoring against Arsenal," said a second 2018 commenter.

In 2019 a fourth Arsenal fan added, "Arteta not celebrating City's goals. Makes you think."

"Why's Arteta not celebrating?" another questioned in 2018, clearly not as good at looking into the future as the first commenter.

And back in that game in 2016, another Arsenal fan thought Arteta was the only positive of the team's loss, opining, "Only positive of that game is Arteta not celebrating when Man City scored."

Whether Arteta will celebrate wildly if his new side score against his former side remains to be seen, but he'll certainly get used to seeing them.

As well as Friday's cup game, the two teams at the top of the league table have to meet twice, possibly to decide who wins the title.

Their next meeting is in a couple of weeks, on February 15th, and they'll meet again at the end of April, with only five league games left after that.