The legendary Gary Neville of Manchester United has identified a possible barrier to Arsenal’s championship run this year.
The Gunners defeated Fulham 3-0 on Saturday to take a six-point lead at the top of the rankings.
At the Emirates Stadium, Viktor Gyokeres gave the Gunners an early lead and scored again shortly before halftime after Bukayo Saka had extended Arsenal’s lead.
The easy victory increased the pressure on championship rivals, Manchester City, even if Mikel Arteta’s team was unable to improve their goal differential in the second half.
Man City has two games left to try to close the gap on title leaders Arsenal. The first is a potentially difficult away match on Monday night against Everton.
Neville predicts that Pep Guardiola’s team will reduce Arsenal’s lead at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, and he observes that all focus will then turn to the Gunners and their weekend London derby against West Ham.
West Ham is now 40 points behind Arsenal in the Premier League, 17 spots ahead, but the Hammers have improved recently, increasing their chances of surviving.
Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast, “I watched Arsenal last night, and while disappointed might not be the right word, Mikel Arteta might be thinking that they could have scored a few more and whether they might come to regret that.”
He will be happy with the win, though, and he needs to tell the players to take advantage of their chances and be brutal and clinical. He will probably deliver those messages.
“They must keep up their momentum during games; they cannot afford to get complacent.” I think Man City will defeat Everton, but it would be incredible if they lost there.
That is not what I anticipate happening. This is an important week because, in my opinion, Arsenal’s away match against West Ham is the one where they are most likely to lose.
They should be very cautious of the match. It’s a difficult one because West Ham needs the points to survive.
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