The Cubs head back to Wrigley Field on Monday to face the Phillies and see an old friend, as Jake Arrieta is set to square off with Yu Darvish in his first matchup against his former team. The 7:05 p.m. CT/8:05 p.m. ET matchup will be available live on MLB.TV and the MLB Network Showcase.

Arrieta (4-4, 4.02 ERA) has never pitched against the Cubs and admitted this will be a special outing.

“Obviously I’m going to approach it like any other start as far as my preparation and everything, but sure, it’s a little different because I played there for four and a half years,” Arrieta said over the weekend. “I’m just trying to approach it as two really good teams at the top of their divisions battling for a four-game set.”

Cubs manager Joe Maddon said he still talks with Arrieta and they remain friends.

Maddon also expects the former Cubs ace to get a strong reception from the faithful at Wrigley Field because of how much the right-hander meant to the club, as he did when the Phillies visited Chicago last season.

“I think he’s going to get a great reception, and he should, I mean, from the fans,” Maddon said. “What he did there was spectacular. He was that good. That one year was as special as I’ve ever witnessed, how well he pitched and how consistent he was all season.”

Arrieta went 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA and a no-hitter en route to the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. He threw another no-hitter in '16, going 18-8 with a 3.01 ERA and helping the Cubs end their 108-year World Series drought.

The Cubs decided not to re-sign Arrieta when his contract ran out after the '17 season, and he signed a three-year, $75 million deal with the Phillies. Instead, Chicago locked up Darvish with a six-year, $126 million contract.

Darvish is 2-3 with a 5.14 ERA this season but has shown improvement of late, holding the Reds to two runs with 11 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings on Wednesday. He wants to pitch well against Arrieta, but the righty won't let the situation take him off his game.

“If I try to show something, I always go back [to struggling],” he said. “So I just want to be myself. He’s a legend in Chicago, for sure, so I respect that. I’m really looking forward to facing him.”