Arsenal are currently top of the English Premier League under Mikel Arteta, six points above Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, Soccernet.ng reports.
One of the coach's teammates during his playing days, Jay-Jay Okocha, has admitted it's no surprise that the Spaniard has gone on to do good things in the English top-flight.
The pair played 31 games together at Paris Saint-Germain from 2001 to 2002, before Okocha joined Bolton.
Arteta went on to play for Rangers, Everton, Real Sociedad, and Arsenal before hanging up his boots in 2016. The Spaniard then worked as an assistant manager with Manchester City under Pep Guardiola.
Okocha: Nigerian legend backs Arsenal to win EPL under Arteta
Quizzed about how the Arsenal manager was as a young footballer, Okocha mentioned Arteta's path to management has always been evident.
“He is special, because he came when he was 18 and I've never seen an 18-year-old so confident, wanting to dominate games at that young age, so it didn't take him long to settle down,” the 52-year-old said on the Clutch 9 Podcast.
“So, we all noticed him immediately and knew that he got something special. He came at the same time as Pochettino, Heinze, and we had such a good team.
“The atmosphere in the dressing room was special because we had the Africans, the Spanish and the French. It was just all of us trying to speak our broken French.
“I wasn't surprised he became a manager because from what I saw then, his football IQ, personality, is still what we're seeing now, because he's gone on to develop himself and also became a coach after he retired,” Okocha continued.
“He's done a good job at Arsenal; we can see the progress since he took over. I know that the fans' expectations are so high, they're never patient, but we can see that he's built his own team.
“He's been challenging for the title, and I think it's the right time for him to win the Premier League.
Quizzed if the Gunners can go on to win the English Premier League this season, Okocha backed his ex-teammate all the way.
“I think so. He's got the best squad in the League, if not in Europe, so it's theirs to lose.
“I think he could do more [more than winning the EPL]. In football, you've got the chance to win every trophy as long as you're in the race.
“Who would think that you can't win more than one, but let's start with one first,” the ex-Frankfurt midfielder concluded.
