Gary Neville has shared his thoughts on Arsenal after backing them to win the Premier League this season, with Manchester United legend admitting he is concerned about their attack
Gary Neville believes Arsenal are the only Premier League team you can “trust when they go a goal up”, but he still has one major doubt about them this season. Arsenal have finished second for the past three seasons and have invested heavily this summer as they look to win the league for the first time since 2004.
The Gunners have spent almost £200million on the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi and Noni Madueke and that figure is set to surpass £250m once a deal for Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze is completed.
“There’s a lot to admire about Arsenal,” Neville said on the Unfiltered Soccer podcast when asked about the Gunners’ chances this season. “Remember that period where we were all criticising them a good few years back, when they were quite flimsy and they’d concede goals and they’d give leads away?
“Now, they’re probably the only team I can think of in the league – and one of the few and rare teams in world football – that really you can trust when they go a goal up. It’s an old principle of teams maybe 15, 20 years ago that they could defend leads and they could be really focussed and concentrated on the defensive side of the game.”
Neville has backed Arsenal to win the league this year, but the Manchester United legend does have concerns over their attack. “They’re like a bit of a throwback to an old Italian team at times with the long throws, set-pieces, compact, don’t give a lot of space away,” he added.
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“They’ve also got the dark arts of the game where the manager is trying to waste time and the players are going down feigning injury. They’ve got a bit of that going on so they’re wise.
“Carra [Jamie Carragher] actually said something interesting, that they remind him of that Rafa Benitez Liverpool team that had those qualities, but they didn’t have the star quality and flair up front to score the goals and win the league over a 38-game season.
“It started to play on my mind a little bit because I’ve gone for Arsenal again this year [to win the league]. I’ve gone for them the last three years and they’ve finished second and I’ve gone for them again just because of the fear of missing out if I didn’t go for them and they won it! I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself! [laughs].
“There’s part of me that looks at them and thinks: [Gabriel] Martinelli has dipped a little bit, [Martin] Odegaard is a good player but is he going to score the goals that they need? I think Gyokeres will do okay, but is he going to score 20 goals? [Bukayo] Saka’s obviously got to stay fit.
“So there are question marks up top about them and that’s the big question: can they get the goals and can they be expansive enough to win games and do what Liverpool and Manchester City will do, which is go and outscore teams and times?”
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
