Neville reveals what ‘worried’ him about Arsenal on Sunday as he tells stars to ‘get off PlayStations’
Gary Neville has urged Arsenal to “do everything perfectly” in preparation for their match against Southampton on Friday night in order to keep the pressure on Manchester City.
The Gunners’ title hopes took a knock on Sunday when Mikel Arteta’s men threw away a two-goal lead against West Ham to draw 2-2 at the London Stadium.
That result means second-placed Manchester City are now four points behind them with a game in hand as the two teams head into their final run of fixtures.
Man City will accumulate another game in hand over the weekend with Arsenal playing Southampton on Friday before they play Sheffield United at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final on the Saturday,
Arsenal travel to the Etihad Stadium in City’s next Premier League match and Neville thinks the Gunners need to do everything possible to “recover” from their wobble.
“This was always going to happen. In a marathon you’re always going to have difficult moments, it’s not a bed of roses,” Neville told Sky Sports.
“You can have ups and downs, you’re going to have injuries, you’re going to miss penalties, you can have your goalkeeper maybe letting one in that he shouldn’t do and some weeks he’ll save five or six.
“But today, I think Arsenal just need to make sure they recover for Friday night and take a single game at a time, get seven points in front.
“Don’t look at the newspapers, don’t look at the social media, don’t look at the reports for the next couple of days because there’ll be that suggestion that Manchester City can smell blood.
“The year that Blackburn Rovers beat us to win the league, there was a point where it looked like they were going to falter and they came back, so it’s a wobble but you can recover from wobbles.
“Do your job against Southampton, be solid, get seven points clear and the Manchester City game at the Etihad will be a once in a lifetime game which will take care of itself and what will happen will happen. They could win and then they could be 10 points clear and all of a sudden they’re probably champions.
“What worried me a little bit was that Arsenal looked the leggy team in the last half an hour and West Ham, who had played on Thursday night, looked like the team with energy.
“I’ve been on those title run-ins when you have young players and you just start to get a little bit sluggish, not moving as freely, not moving as quickly. So look, loads of recovery, loads of rest, get off your PlayStations, don’t go out, relax, do your preparations, have your massages, ice baths whatever.
“Do everything perfectly. You’ve had a great season, win on Friday night and don’t think of anything else. And I’m sure they’ll be good enough to beat Southampton on Friday night but that’s a really important match for them.”
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