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It was a friendship they chose to keep out of the public eye. Everton and Liverpool players were not really expected to mix. But one of the factors behind Mikel Arteta’s decision to join Everton on loan in January 2005 was that one of his childhood friends was playing on the other side of Stanley Park.

Xabi Alonso had arrived at Liverpool six months earlier, and the two spent the next five years together on Merseyside, visiting each other’s homes and enjoying each other’s company away from the glare of the Premier League.

It is far more common now to see, for example, Brazilians from Tottenham and Arsenal spending Christmas together on social media, or Argentinians from both sides of the Manchester divide going out for dinner. But in the early 2000s, when the globalisation of English football was gathering pace quickly, it made sense to keep friendships with rivals private.

“I had to be sensible,” Arteta recalled. “There is no need to make certain things [public]. The same when Pepe [Reina] and other players were there. We shared some moments together, that is inevitable. But as well, you have to be able to separate what is your profession and what is a human relationship.”

Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso go head to head at the Emirates on Sunday.

Arteta and Alonso, who come up against each other on Sunday as the managers of Arsenal and Chelsea, were born four months apart and grew up only minutes from one another in San Sebastian. As very young boys, they played beach football and joined the same club, Antiguoko, where they became team-mates in an exceptional generation that also included another current Premier League manager, Liverpool’s Andoni Iraola. Three managers of three of the biggest clubs in world football once played for the same amateur youth club on the same gravel pitches.

They benefited from top-class coaching under their youth coach Roberto Montiel, whose side competed with, and often defeated, heavily funded academies across Spain. “Mikel Arteta was a leader then, just as he is today,” Montiel told BBC Sport. “Xabi Alonso was very quiet, but on the field he was an excellent playmaker.”

The narrow, atmospheric streets and stunning coastline of San Sebastian can hide its turbulent history. Arteta was asked this week whether the city’s past, having lived through war and devastation, may have helped shape a fighting spirit among its people.

“We have tough skin,” Arteta said. “We have obviously dealt with a lot, inside the country as well. That has reinforced us, it has made us different. Not better, but different in a sense. We have used that education and those values to be probably more prepared when we have to face difficult moments and challenges, to go for it.”

As the son of a Spain international and Liga title winner, Alonso was born into football and was always seen as someone likely to become a professional. The young Arteta was even more gifted technically and earned a move to Barcelona’s famous academy, La Masia.

When they were boys, they dreamed of playing together for Real Sociedad. But by the time Arteta returned from two years at Rangers to sign for Sociedad, Alonso had already left his boyhood club for Liverpool. Instead, their careers crossed in the heat of Merseyside derbies.

Mikel Arteta battles Xabi Alonso during a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park in 2006.

Alonso went on to win 114 caps for Spain, lifting the World Cup and two European Championships, as well as the Champions League with both Liverpool and Real Madrid. Arteta won the Scottish League title and two FA Cups with Arsenal, but he never played for his national team.

Now, at the age of 44, they face each other as two of the most highly rated managers in world football, with both having won a major European league title. What did Alonso’s Bundesliga success with Bayer Leverkusen show his old friend? “Courage,” Arteta said. “To go abroad and deliver what he’s done, I think it’s remarkable. It shows that doing what you feel, being able to translate that to a club, to players and ultimately to achieve the goals that you want is possible, regardless of where you are born and where you are from.”

On Sunday, they meet at the beginning of what could become a defining rivalry in the years ahead. Over the past decade, either Arsenal or Chelsea has usually been outside the title race, and the two London clubs have not both finished in the Premier League top three since 2015. The edge and significance of this fixture may have faded somewhat since the days when Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas used to clash on the pitch. Now, though, Chelsea may be Arsenal’s biggest threat in the title race, even if that is not yet completely certain. This match could have a major influence on how the season develops.

“I think they have every ingredient to be in the highest part of the table,” said Arteta. “Knowing him [Alonso], knowing the history of the club, the quality of the squad that they have, the schedule that they are going to face in relation to other teams [without European football], it is very, very possible [Chelsea will be title contenders].”

Arteta insists his friendship with Alonso will stay strong, even if it continues mostly behind closed doors, just as it did 20 years ago. “Now it will be tougher to meet because of the schedule that we both have,” he said, smiling. “But of course, our relationship goes back for many, many years, and I wish we will have some great moments together. That’s natural.

“But now is the competition, and when you face each other, you know what happens.”