Gary Neville makes nonsensical Arsenal claim involving Manchester United

Arsenal come up against Manchester United this weekend, with club legend Gary Neville not holding back from being controversial.

Arsenal are top of the table. They are eight points clear of Manchester City in second. It doesn’t look like they’ll be stopped anytime soon and nobody seems to question their potential as title winners. Well, nobody except Manchester United legend Gary Neville.

The TV pundit and football expert, who is normally very unbiased and logical in the things he says, has come out with an absolutely outlandish claim. On his own podcast, Neville said that Arsenal wouldn’t win the league – which is a justified analysis, looking at Manchester City’s strength – but he ruins the statement by saying that Manchester United will finish above Arsenal.

Gary Neville says that at some point this season, Arsenal will face a tricky period. I mean, that’s not exactly rocket science. But to debunk this, let’s look at the season as a whole.

Tricky period number one: At the start of October, Arsenal faced both Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in consecutive matches. In both matches, Mikel Arteta’s men won and were the better team on the day.

Tricky period number two: The period we are currently in. After the World Cup break, critics said that Arsenal would fall due to the injury of Gabriel Jesus. Having played West Ham, Brighton, Newcastle and Tottenham in this time, the Gunners have only dropped two points to Newcastle and, if we’re being real, the referee was incredibly against Arsenal during this game.

Of course, that’s not to take away from Newcastle, whose defensive resilience in this match was the best I’ve seen in a long time.

Furthermore, I welcome the argument of ‘Arsenal still need to play City’. They do, and it will be the biggest test of the season.

But, the truth is, the confidence in the Gunners camp will be sky-high. They will see City as another challenge they can overcome, as they have done throughout the entirety of this season.

The point I’m aiming to get at is – what more does Mikel Arteta need to do to convince Neville and other failed managers that he’s the real deal? Having played five of the top six already, he has won every single game except Manchester United. Recently, he completed the double against Spurs too, and has a week to prepare for fourth place Manchester United.

Neville is an excellent pundit, he was spot on to question Arsenal during their turmoil a few seasons ago. However, claims like this prove that naturally, you never stop being a fan of your club, even in a trusted media position.

Do you agree with Gary Neville?