Jamie Carragher claims Mikel Arteta is morphing into Jose Mourinho after Arsenal-Liverpoold draw

Mikel Arteta has been accused of and slowly morphing into a new version of by .

The Reds legend pointed to 's defensive tactics as the reason they failed to secure a win against the Reds, following . Arteta began his coaching journey under the tutelage of Guardiola at Manchester City, serving as an assistant for four years. However, when the opportunity to succeed Unai Emery at Arsenal arose in December 2019, the Spaniard seized it eagerly.

Nearly five years on, Arsenal has emerged as a Premier League force, launching two serious title challenges, only to be narrowly beaten by Guardiola's City both times. is hoping that this season will be third-time lucky, but its aspirations suffered a setback after twice relinquishing the lead to draw with title contenders Liverpool.

Bukayo Saka's initial goal was equalized by Virgil van Dijk, before Mikel Merino's header put the north London side back in front. However, a late strike from Mohamed Salah denied them the full three points.

Sky Sports analyst Roy Keane argued that Arsenal lacked the mentality of a top team to secure the win, while Carragher laid the blame at Arteta's feet rather than the players'. The former Liverpool skipper suggests that Arteta is gradually moving away from being 'Guardiola 2.0' and evolving into a manager more akin to Mourinho, reports .

Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, offered an intriguing take on Mikel Arteta's managerial evolution at Arsenal. "Because Mikel Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola, we're almost thinking this a Pep Guardiola disciple," he said.

"If you look at the two most successful managers of the last 10 or 15 years, you've got Pep Guardiola here with a certain style of football, and you've got Jose Mourinho, almost equally as successful at the other end.

"Mikel Arteta is slowly morphing into a Jose Mourinho type of manager and nobody really thought that would happen. I just think it's really interesting how he's got there."

Carragher's comments could be seen as somewhat of a double-edged sword, especially considering Mourinho's mixed record in the Premier League. Despite securing three Premier League titles during his time with Chelsea, Mourinho's tenures at Manchester United and Tottenham didn't quite hit the same heights.

Arteta himself might not align with Carragher's assessment, particularly after expressing his frustration over Arsenal's lack of bold play in the latter half of their recent draw. "We deserved to win the game. We were the better team. Learnings from both goals, second one is a transition moment we have to end up in final third. You cannot give that away," Arteta reflected.

"We were clear in what we had to do and the execution, determination and aggression with and without the ball was really good. A few moments where we should've put the ball in the net. In the first phase we needed more courage to play. We created big opportunities."