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Before another meeting between former rivals, the Arsenal manager said his admiration for his counterpart
Unai Emery believes that there is no better coach than his longtime rival, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola and Emery faced each other for the first time in the 2008-09 season, the latter ahead of Valencia after leading Almeria to victory in the Spanish high-flying race when the latter was in his first season in Barcelona.
Emery's team had only one point to score in their two games against Guardiola's future champions, and the current Arsenal boss has no win in his career against his former rival.
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This Sunday, Emery's Gunners will visit Etihad Stadium in the hope of finally breaking this series and avenge the 2-0 defeat in London in August that marked the start of Emery's tenure.
And before that game, Emery admitted he did not think the best coach was better than Guardiola.
"I have badyzed many teams and coaches and I think it's hard to find a coach who is better than Guardiola," Emery told reporters.
"His career is a very big career. We started together. He started with the second Barcelona team, I started with Lorca and Almeria [In Spain’s third and second tiers].
"I learned a lot by watching his team. It's good to watch each other when we are coaching to learn different things between us. I think in his career he does the best job among all the coaches in the world. "
Emery noted that although Guardiola has often had excellent players in his winning teams in Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, he is improving his performance at every stop.
"He had the opportunity to gradually hire the best players in Barcelona, Bayern and City," added Emery. "It improves every year with great players and pays a lot for some players. But he led them to Barcelona, Bayern and City, one more step each place.
"This, for me, is the quality that makes me say that it's the best."
While Guardiola's City team can boast of winning the Premier League last season with a record number of points, Emery is inspired by the inspiration for his team Arsenal rivals the defending title champions this season.
The winter window at Arsenal was limited by financial resources, the club could only afford to lend players on loan, which they did with Denis Suarez of Barcelona.
And rather than Manchester City, who are the big spenders of the league, Emery sees a better model for the Liverpool and Tottenham Gunners.
"I remember three years ago, Liverpool were playing in the Europa League final [against his Sevilla side]they were in the top four in the Premier League and their progress is very, very good and they are now the favorites, "he said.
"Manchester City may be a different example because they bought a very large lot for a high price, and we may not be able to do that now.
"But we can also do the same thing as Liverpool, like Tottenham, do more with younger players, using players who can improve with us. And we do it. "
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Suarez is in the finish line for his debut at Arsenal on Sunday, with doubts as to whether this will be done at the expense of Mesut Ozil, who has been in and next to the Emery club this season.
However, the manager dismissed this line of thinking, saying that Suarez was responding to a very different need.
"This is not a change for him [Ozil], "he said." Suarez comes here because we have a lot of problems on the wing, we do not have players to play right or left – that's the reason. "
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