David Moyes: Facing Arteta will be strange, tells me that I am getting old

The current Arsenal boss played at Everton for seven years under David Moyes.

David Moyes has accepted that it would be ‘strange’ to compete against his former captain Mikel Arteta when West Ham United come up against the latter’s Arsenal side in the coming weekend.

Arteta played under Moyes’ tutelage for seven years in Everton. It is also believed that he asked for the veteran gaffer’s suggestions before taking over the Arsenal job late last year.

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The Scotsman had positive things to say about Arteta’s future as a manager. David Moyes remarked to Guardian, “Facing him will be pretty strange, it probably tells me that I am getting a bit old. He was a great player for me, he helped change Everton - the team, the way we played. We had so many good players at the time in Mikel, Steven Pienaar, Leon Osman."

“They were all terrific players and it changed what we had and improved us greatly. He was always a really good football player first and foremost, once he got to understand the Premier League - it took him a while to settle in - but once he got used to it he became a really good football player. Once he got used to the physical elements of the Premier League he became a really good captain."

“He was an excellent professional and it rubbed off on a lot of the people around him. I was very fortunate to have him around me. He came in to a club that was on the up and had good players, but Mikel gave us something different."

“The biggest disappointment was when I had to sell him to Arsenal because, at the time, he wanted to go and it was a good move at the right time in his career, but we missed him. He was an exceptional player. Mikel is now on a different career path and has started really well. He'll remember a lot from the early days and he will go on to have a successful career, no doubt.”

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Moyes has a tough task in hand currently as his team is tied with AFC Bournemouth with 27 points. The Cherries are presently placed in the 18th spot in the points table. Accordingly, they are not placed in the relegation zone only on the basis of having a better goal difference than Eddie Howe’s team.

The Hammers really need to avoid defeats in the final stage of the ongoing season to avoid being dropped down to the second tier of English football. On the other hand, Arsenal has 37 points from 27 matches and has currently occupied the 10th spot in the standings. Arteta’s men have won their previous two Premier League games and would be edging to continue that positive momentum and upstage their rankings in the current campaign.