Gary Neville makes ‘late’ U-turn on Man Utd prediction for two reasons as PL winners named

Gary Neville has made a “late” U-turn on his Manchester United prediction for this season, while he’s backed Arsenal to win the Premier League.

Man Utd were beaten 1-0 by arch-rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford in their opening game of the 2025/26 Premier League season, though there were positives to take from this defeat.

The Red Devils were clearly the better side over 90 minutes as a sub-par Arsenal side were made to hang on in the closing stages, with summer signings Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha making a positive impact.

There were also signs that Ruben Amorim‘s system was starting to work, though stand-in goalkeeper Alter Bayindir let them down as he was not strong enough to deny Arsenal from a corner for Riccardo Calafiori’s goal.

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With that, Neville has boldly backed Man Utd to finish fourth in the Premier League this season as he thinks they will end up ahead of Chelsea.

Neville has based this call on Man Utd’s performance against Arsenal, while he reckons their next potential signing could make a huge difference.

“It’s a late change but I think there’s a bit of science [behind it],” Neville said on Sky Sports.

“Last season, I remember watching Chelsea on the first game of the season and, at that point, no one had Chelsea finishing in the top four I watched them against City and I thought: ‘They are not bad, that will do damage this season, that’s a good team’.

“When I watched United [against Arsenal], I thought the performance was very good and I think they will get a goalkeeper. I’m banking on that – they will not make the mistake of not getting a goalkeeper in.

“When you bring a goalkeeper in, and you have those players up front with that front line and you have no European football, I think they will surprise people.

“Last week I had them finishing sixth to eighth, but I thought the performance was really good and I genuinely liked it.

“They were high energy… and it was a dominant performance against a top-three team. When United have beaten a top-three team in the last five, six, or seven years, it has been smash and grabs on the counterattack.

“Yesterday was a loss but I value performances and if they perform like that, they will win a lot of football matches.”

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Neville also believes that Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City are the only sides capable of winning the Premier League, though he has explained why he has backed the Gunners to edge out their two direct rivals for the title.

“I think they are all in with an equal chance so I’ve got no certainty that Arsenal are going to win it,” Neville admitted.

“They’ve been consistent over the last three years and I do feel they will get there at some point. They are reliable and solid and they’re consistent, which I think is important.

“I think they’ve got the right materials, they are just going to have to sort that forward bit of the pitch out and I think Gyokeres will.”