Mikel Arteta has said the Premier League is still the best league in the world despite Manchester City's guilty verdict on breaching financial regulations.
City are appealing against the damning conclusion of an Independent Commission which found the club had broken 114 rules relating to a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018.
Should the appeal fail, City are facing sanctions ranging from a fine to possible expulsion from the league.
Arsenal ended their 22-year wait for the title in May, standing as the crowning achievement of Arteta's tenure in his first managerial role following three years working under Pep Guardiola at City.
Guardiola's departure at the end of last season means Arteta is now the longest-serving manager in the league. He signed a new four-year deal at the club earlier this week.
Arteta sidestepped multiple questions about City's guilty verdict on Friday. Asked whether the Premier League was still the best in the world, Arteta said: "100%.
Continuing in response to a question about the league's financial rules enabling Brentford, Brighton and Leeds to thrive, Arteta said: " It is the best league in the world in my opinion, yes, for many reasons and as well because I've been here for over 20 years and it will continue to be the best league in the world.
"And again, I feel privileged to be where I am and the fact that there are other clubs, and you mentioned a few, that they've been extremely good at managing the resources in such an intelligent and efficient way is good because it has increased the competition and we saw that a few weeks ago already [when Arsenal lost 3-0 at Brighton]."
Pushed on whether the league had been damaged already, whatever the outcome of City's appeal, Arteta said: "There is a process there again that is not resolved, it's ongoing and we can have I think a much clearer opinion once it's been resolved. Up to now I'm not prepared to make any comments."
City won the league twice when Arteta was part of Guardiola's coaching staff and when asked whether his memories of that time were tainted by the verdict, Arteta said: "Again, as I said, I understand the question where they're coming from. It's a lot of noise around it, it's an ongoing process that is not resolved yet and I think we need to respect it and certainly I have to respect that."
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Kai Havertz and Ezri Konsa face late fitness checks after picking up injuries on international duty while Christos Tzolis is out for "a few weeks" due to a muscular problem. Arteta added that he is "hopeful" Declan Rice will be fit to play against Leeds after missing the recent spate of England games because of load management.
Piero Hincapié, Cristhian Mosquera and Ben White are available to face Leeds.