Neville names the three players Arsenal must ‘keep fit’ to take their ‘big chance’ and win the title
Arsenal can win the Premier League title if they keep William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Declan Rice fit for the remainder of the season.
The Gunners ended their run of 12 consecutive top-flight defeats to Manchester City on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s men at the Emirates Stadium.
It’s a result that sees them leapfrog the Citizens into second and finish the weekend as joint leaders of the Premier League with arch-rivals Tottenham.
And former Manchester United defender Neville is still tipping Arsenal to win the Premier League title but admits there are certain players they must wrap in cotton wool.
“I think they’ve got a big chance, Arsenal,” Neville told Sky Sports. “They’ve got to keep their players fit. They’re 100-per-cent better with Declan Rice in the middle of the pitch, without a shadow of a doubt.
“You want more from your centre-forwards, and it was hard for both of them [against City], but there’s a question mark over whether that’ll cause them problems in the end.
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“They have to keep Rice fit, the idea of not playing Gabriel Magalhaes at the start of the season was an experiment that won’t happen again. Those two centre-halves – Gabriel and William Saliba – were pivotal against City, they were outstanding playing against the best player in the world in that position [Erling Haaland].
“To beat City, and give [injured] Bukayo Saka a three-week rest, that could be a really good thing.
“The two centre-backs and Rice are the most important players to keep fit. They won’t win the league without them.
“I was worried about the goalkeeper David Raya in the first half. He’s averted a bit of a crisis there. If he conceded a goal from one of those moments, honestly you’ve seen it go badly. Hopefully he’s gone home and reflected, he came out a lot better for the second half – but whatever Arteta said to them at half-time, they all came out better.”
Man City have suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time in five years and Neville thinks Arsenal can take advantage of the Citizens’ Treble hangover.
“The reason I predicted Arsenal to win the title is because I felt they got close last year, I thought they’d be close again and I thought there’d be a slight Treble hangover for City,” said Neville.
“What’s City’s cause this year? They’ve achieved utopia, they can’t do any more. When you’ve fought so long and hard to win a Champions League like they have and won the treble and repeated what Man Utd have done, there’s got to be that little bit of a sigh of relief.
“I remember my most difficult season for United was the season after the treble. We did win the league but the other teams weren’t very good that season. I had a nightmare, it took so much out of me the previous season.
“I think there’ll be an element of these City players just having a bit taken out of them.
“They’ve taken a couple of punches on the chin in the last couple of weeks, so they might have been woken up early enough and don’t write them off – absolutely not. But something’s happening, Wolves, Newcastle, now losing a game like this. Things that haven’t happened too many times in the past are starting to happen in front of their eyes.”
