“Don’t go into coaching” – Arsenal manager Arteta opens up on advice from Chelsea coach Pochettino 

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed the advice his Chelsea counterpart Mauricio Pochettino gave him during their playing days. The Argentine tactician told the Gunners' boss not to get into coaching as it was 'too hard'.

However, the former Everton midfielder always had coaching on his mind and used to look up to Pochettino when they played together at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Speaking ahead of the Chelsea vs Arsenal clash this weekend, the Gunners manager said (via GOAL):

"Don't go into coaching. It's too hard. I knew he was going to be a coach. I followed him very closely. As a player he was a leader. I used to have him in my back and he was constantly coaching me."

The two managers who go head-to-head this week played 39 matches together at PSG. The Spaniard was loaned to the French side by Barcelona B in the 2001/02 season.

Arsenal manager giving little away before Chelsea clash

Mikel Arteta was quizzed about his players' fitness levels ahead of the Chelsea clash and gave very little away. He said that they needed to assess players on Friday.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Arteta said:

"Not a lot. We haven't had a lot of players. We're going to do our first training session today and we'll know more after the session."

When asked if the injury to William Saliba is serious, he added:

"Hopefully not. He's been carrying that for weeks now. We had to use that time to settle and we believed it was the best moment to do that."

Arteta admitted that they need to manage Bukayo Saka's playing time as the Englishman has played too many games. He said:

"Yeah it's our responsibility to monitor them. It's also about relationship to the data and the way they train. Sometimes we want to play them but when we have them three hours on the field in training it doesn't help. If you want to be a top top player you have to play every three days and play 65- 70 games. We have to play him when we see him in the right condition mentally and physically. He needs to be performing as well."

Arsenal are second in the league table while Chelsea sit 11th, nine points behind the Gunners. The north London sdie completed a league double over the Blues last season.