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Mikel Arteta says his Arsenal players have learned from their experience after Myles Lewis-Skelly imitated Manchester City striker Erling Haaland's celebration in last season's meeting.
The two sides meet on Sunday at Emirates Stadium (16:30 BST) in a game that has become hotly contested as they pursue Premier League title ambitions.
Arteta is unbeaten in his last four matches against City, with two wins at home and two away, and there has been bad blood and unsavoury spats in recent encounters.
Haaland told the Gunners boss he should "stay humble" after an eventful 2-2 draw at Etihad Stadium last September, while the Norwegian forward had words with Lewis-Skelly, then 17, in the same match asking, 'who are you?', when players from both teams clashed at the full-time whistle.
Lewis-Skelly then replicated Haaland's celebration pose, where he sits on the ground and crosses his arms and legs in a meditating position, after the defender, now 18, scored in Arsenal's crushing 5-1 victory in the February return.
Asked whether he had advised his players to refrain from doing similar, Arteta said: "Well, if that was done, that's it. That's part of it.
"There's been a lot of celebration and not celebration from the past from a lot of teams - that's it.
"Every experience is to learn as well and we certainly learned from that one."
With three wins from their opening four league games, Arsenal are second in the table and have conceded only one goal too, which was Dominik Szoboszlai's stunning free-kick in their 1-0 loss at Liverpool.
They have invested around £250m in their squad this season as they look to lift a first trophy since 2020.
As a result of that increased depth and quality, Arteta has more options from the bench and substitutes Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard scored the goals as they beat Athletic Club in their opening Champions League game this term.
And the Arsenal manager added the pair are in his thoughts for a starting spot against Pep Guardiola's side, who are three points behind in the table.
"It certainly does because when players are in that state, I think they have to be used and they have to be recognised," said Arteta.
"But it's a lot of players obviously that are in a really good moment, performing really well and that's what we want.
"Whenever we need them, I'm sure that they're going to be at their best."
