Arsenal told to ‘work it out’ by Neville, who refuses to ‘flip-flop’ on title prediction
Manchester United legend Gary Neville still thinks Arsenal will win the Premier League despite their ‘disappointing’ performances this season.
The Gunners have lost their last two league matches, failing to score at home to West Ham and throwing away a lead at Fulham.
Mikel Arteta conceded that Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage was his side’s “worst performance of the season”, which came days after drawing a blank against the Hammers despite having 30 shots on goal.
Arsenal were on fire during the first half of last season, reaching 50 points after 19 games.
This term, however, they have been a lot less fluid in attack and many rumours are linking Brentford striker Ivan Toney with a move to the Emirates.
They are most certainly still in the hunt for the Premier League title 20 games into the 2023/24 campaign, sitting in fourth place, five points off pacesetters Liverpool.
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Former England and Manchester United right-back Neville was always pessimistic about Arsenal’s chances of winning the league last season but he has backed them to win it this time around.
When revisiting his predictions on week one of the new season, Neville stuck to his guns, doubling down on his stance that Arsenal will win the big prize.
“I’m not going to change my prediction,” he told Sky Sports. “I don’t think you can flip-flop a part of the way through the season.
“They’re not completely out of it, Arsenal.
“I’m a little bit disappointed with them, they’ll be disappointed with themselves and the Arsenal fans will be disappointed in these last two or three weeks because I think they’ve missed an opportunity to put themselves in a great position.
“Not where they would be in a position where you’d say they would win the league, but that four, five, six-point gap they should have with the games they’ve had in the last few weeks, they’ve just got to work it out.
“But they can come back, they can still win the league.”
Gabriel Jesus enjoyed a stellar debut campaign after joining the Gunners from Manchester City in the summer of 2022 but he has been scrutinised for his lack of conviction in front of goal this season.
His decline in form has not done Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli any favours.
Speaking on Monday evening, Neville’s Sky colleague Jamie Carragher claimed that none of Arsenal’s front three are “world class”.
“All four of Arsenal’s front are top players but none of them are world class,” he said.
“I think Saka can become world class, but in this league Liverpool won a title because they had Mo Salah.”
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