Mikel Arteta Drops Surprise Michael Carrick Revelation Before Man Utd Showdown

Arteta and Carrick have faced off from the dugouts and on the pitch over the years.

Mikel Arteta (left) came up against Michael Carrick on the pitch. | Fabrizio Carabelli/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Robbie Jay Barratt-AMA/Getty Images

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed that current Manchester United caretaker coach Michael Carrick was “one of his favourite” defensive midfielders when the pair shared the same Premier League pitches.

Arteta and Carrick will go head-to-head as Arsenal host United on Sunday in the Premier League’s standout fixture of the weekend. Yet the pair know each other well from their battles in midfield across the best part of a decade.

Split across his time at Everton and Arsenal, Arteta faced a Manchester United side with Carrick in midfield on 10 occasions. The Spanish playmaker only won once.

Rather than any bitterness, Arteta wistfully recalled his clashes with Carrick, hailing the former England international as “one of my favourite No. 6s” while in conversation with Sky Sports this week. “Very intelligent,” he added, “looked like he could never break sweat, he was so in control of the games.”

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Arteta vs. Carrick on the Pitch

There was one clear winner between Mikel Arteta (left) and Michael Carrick on the pitch. | ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images

Statistic	Mikel Arteta	Michael Carrick
Games	10	10
Wins	1	7
Draws	2	2
Losses	7	1
Team Goals For	8	16
Team Goals Against	16	8

Stats via Transfermarkt.

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Arteta and Carrick had different natural skillsets. During his time at Everton, the current Arsenal manager was much more of an attacking midfielder, crashing into the box to chip in with a regular supply of goals. Carrick, by contrast, scarcely ventured that far forward, dictating play from the base of midfield.

During his 12 seasons at United, the towering midfielder chipped in with 16 Premier League goals; Arteta scored as many in the space of three years for Everton (2006–09) before evolving into more of a withdrawn figure in north London.

Carrick got the better of Arteta in their only previous clash from the dugouts—not that he was willing to get carried away by that.

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Carrick Downplays Arteta Record

Michael Carrick is at the helm until the summer. | Copa/Getty Images

During Carrick’s first emergency stint at Old Trafford in 2021, he masterminded a 3–2 victory over Arteta’s Arsenal. Ralf Rangnick watched from the stands as Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in a VAR-riddled fixture which Carrick nevertheless hailed as a “perfect night.”

Five years on, he wasn’t in the mood to reminisce. “There’s not much to take from that moving into this one,” the obdurately level-headed coach shrugged. “It’s a whole new challenge, a whole new game, a whole new group of players. More feeding off what we’ve done this week, going into the game and looking forward to it.”

Carrick can surely take more confidence from an impressive showing against Manchester City last weekend. Arteta is certainly wary of the swiftness of United’s frontline.

“You could see that in the Manchester derby, the kind of behaviours and the game that they played, so we will expect a really tough match and we’ll adapt to that for sure,” he noted. “They are so good in a lot of departments, but it is clear that when that team has a space to go in a certain place to activate or run, they become lethal.

“You saw that a few days ago in Manchester. They have a lot of attributes to cause you problems. But as well, like every team, they have their weaknesses as well.”

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