Neville talks nonsense as Arsenal handed false ‘must win at Man City’ title demand

Gary Neville has insisted that Arsenal must win at the Etihad this season to prove they can beat Manchester City to the Premier League title.

Liverpool’s record at the Etihad when in a direct battle for the title with City is poor. City’s record at Anfield when in a direct battle for the title with Liverpool is poor. But Neville thinks Arsenal need to win at the Etihad. They don’t. Unless City win every other game, they don’t.

The Reds have managed a few draws in that fixture, but so have Arsenal. They drew 0-0 in 2023/24 and 2-2 in 2024/25, with City scoring a 98th-minute equaliser.

Winning away against your biggest title rivals definitely sends a message and shows you mean business, but it has rarely happened in recent years.

City pipped Arsenal to the title in 2022/23 and did the double over the Londoners, winning 3-1 at the Emirates and 4-1 at the Etihad.

Manchester United legend Neville experienced a couple of crushing home defeats to Arsenal during his career and recalled Marc Overmars and Sylvain Wiltord’s iconic Old Trafford winners when stating that Mikel Arteta’s side must win at the Etihad this campaign.

“I have thought for a number of years, when Arsenal have been going for this title, that they’re going to have to go and win at the Etihad,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. “I’ve just thought it for a number of years: go and win. That’s the only real way.

“I always think of when Arsenal came and won titles – the Overmars goal in 1998, the Wiltord goal in 2002. The goals that still make me shiver. They make you shiver because they silence a city; they don’t just silence a ground.

“On the other hand, if City go and beat you and beat you up, like they did two or three years ago, it rocks you the other way.”

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Neville has put his neck on the line, backing Arsenal to beat City on April 18 and go on to win the Premier League.

“I don’t do predictions; I’m pretty poor at them,” he said. “I think they’ll go and win at City. That will be where you really recognise that they are champions. That’s how I see this season going.

“I thought City might come back at them, even go past them momentarily.

“City will drop points. They’re not quite right themselves. They’re not as dominant as they were, they’re not as controlling as they were, they’re not as exceptional as they were, but they’re still very, very dangerous.

“I think that [Antoine] Semenyo, [Omar] Marmoush and [Erling] Haaland up front could cause real problems for every team.”

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