Manchester United legend Gary Neville backed Arsenal to mount another Premier League title challenge after the latest round of results.
Arsenal may have started the season indifferently, but they are in the right place to mount a title challenge. On first view, Mikel Arteta had changed their style a bit, and they were slow to get goals while having far less speed to their game compared to last season.
In hindsight, Arteta seems more focused on controlling the game better and ensuring his players make concerted efforts to win matches. After the latest round of results, the Gunners climbed to third spot and remain one of the two teams unbeaten in the league.
In fact, they are the only team in the continent to remain unbeaten in all competitions. At the weekend, Manchester City lost to Wolves, which opened the door for Arsenal to close the gap on their main challengers.
Manchester City’s current position is very similar to that of Arsenal from last season when the Gunners won their first five games of the campaign. Now, they are part of the chasing pack as they continue to apply pressure on Pep Guardiol’s side.
🚨🎙️| Gary Neville: “I think that (the loss for Man City) will give a lot of encouragement to Arsenal. Obviously what happened in the week too, against Newcastle.”
“I think today at Wolves, they’re conceding a goal or two and they look human. It will be interesting, I still… pic.twitter.com/waiXooKdOJ
— afcsphere (@afcsphere) October 1, 2023
Manchester United legend Gary Neville, who had backed Arsenal to win the Premier League before the season began, continues to hold on to his predictions. The pundit on the Gary Neville Podcast insisted Arsenal are well placed to mount a title challenge but stressed Arteta’s need to keep key players fit.
Neville said, “I think that (the loss for Man City) will give a lot of encouragement to Arsenal. Obviously what happened in the week too, against Newcastle. I think today at Wolves, they’re conceding a goal or two and they look human. It will be interesting.”
“I still think that Arsenal, if they can keep their players fit, they’ve got a great chance, I really do. A great chance.”
Sticking to the last point about keeping players fit, Neville recently suggested Arsenal would have won the North London Derby had Declan Rice stayed on the pitch for the whole game. Stressing on that, Arsenal have had some injury issues this season, but their overall quality has ensured an unbeaten start to the campaign.
However, Arteta would need to maintain his team’s composure and now readies his team for the big test against a Rodri-less Manchester City next Sunday. That game will have ramifications on the title challenge, as Liverpool and Tottenham will keep a close watch on what transpires at the Emirates.
