Gary Neville believes Liverpool and Arsenal cannot rely on other teams if they they are to win the Premier League – and must beat Manchester City.
City won Sunday’s Manchester derby 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium after Phil Foden’s brace inspired a comeback win for Pep Guardiola’s side. The triumph for City moved them to within a point of league leaders Liverpool and ahead of Arsenal, albeit until tomorrow where they could cut the deficit.
The reigning Premier League champions are looking to win a fourth consecutive top-flight crown, a feat that has never been managed before, but face stern competition from Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta’s men. Ruben Dias and co face an important month with clashes against their title rivals, Arsenal and Liverpool to come, while both sides also have to visit Erik ten Hag’s men at Old Trafford.
And Neville believes that the upcoming games between the title rivals are key if Liverpool and Arsenal harbour ambitions of pipping City to the title.
“I genuinely think that Liverpool and Arsenal have to think they are going to beat Manchester City,” he began. “I think they have to think that way to create that monumental shift in belief that City have that they are going to win the league.
“I always think when we lost titles whether it was Chelsea with (Carlo) Ancelotti or (Sylvain) Wiltord scoring at Old Trafford or (Mark) Overmars scoring at Old Trafford, the team that went on to win it came to Old Trafford and won. They didn’t come to Old Trafford and get a point and played okay, they came and shocked us.
“I think that is what Liverpool and Arsenal are going to have to do to take the belief away from this Pep Guardiola team because they will be thinking that it is ominous at this moment in time.”
“Liverpool have got momentum and energy – and the Klopp factor,” added Neville. “Arsenal at this moment are the best performing team, defensively and they’ve now started to hit their stride in attack.
“City have got the most experience. All three have got something. This is where we’ll find out about all three of them. Can City do it again and get over the line? Can Arsenal do what they didn’t do last year? They completely fell away with ten games to go. This is that moment again.
“I always wanted to see Arsenal in the same position again, with City, to see how far they’ve developed. I think they have developed, with [William] Saliba and [Declan] Rice. They’re better than they were last year and have more power.
“I can’t wait for these next couple of games because we find out really what these teams are about.
“City are the barometer, that’s who they have to try and knock off the perch. That’s what you have to beat them – you can’t say ‘well City might drop points at that ground’ if you’re not beating them yourself. You have to beat them if you’re Liverpool and Arsenal.”
