Arsene Wenger: 'I admire Pep Guardiola'

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that he admires Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola ahead of Sunday's Premier League meeting between the two sides.

The two will come face to face for the first time since Guardiola's move to England with just one point and one place separating the title rivals.

Wenger believes that it is now easier for foreign managers to come to the Premier League than it was when he arrived 20 years ago, but admitted that Guardiola deserves his reputation as one of the most respected managers in world football.

"I should get some newspapers when I arrived here and you will see that it's much easier today for the foreign managers. I would say when I arrived here it was difficult for the foreign managers. Today it is difficult for the English managers, that's what has changed. People are always resistant to radical change. They are ready to cope with it if it is successful," he told reporters.

"Our job is to always accept that you want your own philosophy but at the right pace, and when you go somewhere, sometimes you have to analyse what is going on and to bring in your own philosophy at a pace where you think they can cope with it. He started at Barcelona, I started in an academy. It's not the same, but I must say he has done extremely well and he is one of the most respected managers in the game, if not the most and maybe rightly so.

"Every manager has a personality and can only act with his own personality. You cannot copy a manager, you can only be who you are. He has been influenced at Barcelona by the Johan Cruyff period when he was a player. And I think he has strong beliefs and that for me is the most important thing for a manager. [Our styles] are similar, he tries to play. Do I admire him? Yes, of course."

Guardiola and Wenger have met on eight previous occasions in the Champions League, with the Spaniard coming out on top four times and Wenger winning twice.