'Not a criticism' - Ex-Premier League player compares Arteta to Mourinho

Jamie Carragher has likened Mikel Arteta's style at Arsenal to Jose Mourinho, stating that it differs from Pep Guardiola's approach.

The Gunners played out a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in the pick of Sunday’s Premier League action, thus failing to close the gap at the top of the standings, leaving the North London side four behind Arne Slot’s men and five adrift of Guardiola’s Manchester City. 

Speaking after the game, the Sky Sports pundit observed a shift in their approach, suggesting that manager Arteta is adopting a more pragmatic, "Mourinhoesque" style rather than following Guardiola’s possession-based philosophy.

The former defender believes the Arsenal manager’s tactics are a deliberate response to his team’s attacking limitations compared to rivals Man City, pointing to the North London club’s defensive solidity last season and their recent tendency to "retreat" in matches as evidence of this shift.

"Mikel Arteta is slowing morphing into a Jose Mourinho type of manager,” said Carragher on Sky Sports. “Nobody really thought that was going to happen. Today, they retreated in the second half.

“This is not a criticism, this is an observation of where Arsenal are at as a team. Maybe it is because Arteta has looked at his attacking players and thought 'we're not as good as Manchester City, we have to win the league by being the best team defensively.' And that's what they were last season and possibly still are.

"But this idea that Arsenal play great football and he is a Pep Guardiola man, he is not. Just look at the players going down today, the secrecy before the game about who was fit and who wasn't. It's all out of the Jose Mourinho playbook."

Arsenal travel to Preston in the EFL Cup on Wednesday before returning to Premier League action at Newcastle United on November 2.