Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has made the prediction that Arsenal really could be set to win the Premier League title this season after seeing Manchester City slip up against Wolves.
Arsenal won 4-0 away to Bournemouth at the weekend, while City were far from at their best as they suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat away to Wolves, meaning the gap between the two teams is now just one point.
Neville seems to have a good feeling about Arsenal this year, saying they could be the real deal as long as they keep everyone fit, though he did stress that it was likely to be very close, with the Gunners surely not about to run away with it.
The pundit did say, however, that he felt City looked “human” against Wolves, which perhaps points to how challenging it’s going to be for the club to maintain the incredible consistency that saw them win the treble last season.
“I’ve got Arsenal to win the league this year,” Neville said on his podcast, as quoted by the Metro.
“That post-treble feeling, what it would have taken out of those City players and staff would have been enormous.
“They could easily win the league this season and obviously it is just one game, but little results like that give the other teams encouragement.
“We know City have lost games in the past and gone on long winning runs so we can’t write them off but it will give a lot of encouragement to Arsenal.
“Against Newcastle, it was a serious team that Pep Guardiola took up there and at Wolves, they’re conceding a goal or two, they’re going behind in games and they look human.
“It will be interesting. If Arsenal keep their players fit, they’ve got a great chance this season.
“It was a good response from Arsenal [against Bournemouth]. They’d have come out of the north London derby disappointed. They’ll face those moments in the season.
“They’ll be confident that they are back in the title race. The gap isn’t going to four points or six, when you wonder if you will ever catch them.
“Stay with them and get to that point where there are nine or 10 games to go again.
“Arsenal won’t run away and win the league, your first title is very rarely like that, you have to get over the line crawling.
“Last season they fell apart late-on and made mistakes, but they have to get in that position again. Then we’ll see if they’ve matured. I think they will have.
“I just want them to have composure and be a bit more ruthless. Big tests are coming and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens, because it won’t all be about Manchester City this season.”