Gary Neville changes his mind in his prediction that Man City will win the title after underestimating Arsenal’s prospects
Gary Neville has acknowledged that he is not as certain about his earlier forecast that Manchester City would win the Premier League championship over Arsenal.
Despite previously underestimating Arsenal’s prospects, the Sky Sports commentator now believes that the Gunners are in a good position with a five-point lead at the top of the table.
However, he still thinks that Man City will prevail due to Arsenal’s tendency to become anxious and panic towards the end of the season. Neville expressed this view on the Overlap program.
In contrast, he has recently informed Sky Sports that Arsenal has a chance to win the league for the first time in almost two decades, even though he still thinks Man City is likely to finish ahead of them. Neville has stated that Arsenal has a promising schedule ahead of them, with favorable fixtures in the next five to six games.
This, according to him, could set them up well for the final stretch of the season.
Neville said: “I think Arsenal have got a pretty good run on paper, the next five or six games look favourable for them. They can really set themselves up for that run-in.
“They are teams that Arsenal, in good form, will beat. But there are a couple of games in there that if you are not quite right – Fulham away, the way they are playing they will cause problems.”
He went on to add: “I see Arsenal doing well in these next few weeks, it will come down to those last six to eight games and if City are on their heels, I do anticipate City will go past them.
“But, at this moment in time, I’m less confident in my prediction than I was four or five weeks ago. I thought City would have got their act together.
“City not dealing with that left-back position, City still tinkering, fiddling around with the team and the system, Bernardo at left-back like he was in the last 10 minutes against Nottingham Forest, stuff like that will always give you a chance.
“And Arsenal deserve to be there, they have been the best team by far this season.”
Neville’s remarks brought attention to Manchester City’s problem at left-back position, which has arisen following the loaning out of Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich.
In the meantime, Arsenal has widened their lead at the top of the table to five points after winning 4-0 against Everton in their recent fixture.
Last month, Man City had reduced the gap between them and Arsenal with a 3-1 triumph at the Emirates Stadium. However, they failed to capitalize on this gain by drawing 1-1 with Nottingham Forest in their next match.
This week, it was reported that Neville had commented on Arsenal’s exuberant celebrations after their 4-2 comeback victory against Aston Villa, suggesting that their display of emotions demonstrated that they are “too emotional.”
He believes that this behavior indicates that Arsenal may falter and fail to maintain their lead in the final weeks of the season.
He said: “Arsenal have struggled in latter parts of seasons, with last season the most recent example of this.
“This is why Manchester City will win the Premier League, because when it gets to the last 10 games, Arsenal will start to panic a little bit, the anxiety will kick in, pressure builds.’
“If Arsenal do it and win the league it will be an unbelievable achievement, but they haven’t been around the block like Manchester City.
“When it gets to the final 10 games and it really kicks in – [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Erling] Haaland, [Ruben] Dias, [Ilkay] Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker – these guys who have been there before, they’ll push on. But there are teams who get over the line for the first time and this could be the year for Arsenal.”
Gary Neville changes his mind in his prediction that Man City will win the title after underestimating Arsenal’s prospects
