Gary Neville has changed his top four prediction for the Premier League this season but still believes Arsenal will win the title, predicting Mikel Arteta’s side will “hot form” over the busy Christmas period.
Liverpool are currently six points clear of Arsenal and four clear of second-placed Chelsea, and with a game in hand on their rivals, with Arne Slot enjoying an outstanding start to his Anfield career.
Enzo Maresca is doing a similarly excellent job in his debut season at Stamford Bridge, and the Blues could leapfrog the Reds with victory over Everton on Sunday, with Slot’s side facing Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium later that evening.
Arsenal struggled through captain Martin Odegaard’s absence and Arteta has come under pressure in recent weeks owing to their reliance on set pieces to score goals, with Manchester City’s demise under Pep Guardiola furthering the frustration of Gunners fans, who have watched Liverpool take proper advantage of the Citizens’ shocking form.
In August, Neville predicted that Arsenal would go on to end their 21-year wait for the Premier League title, while backing Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea to make up the rest of the top four – in that order.
But on the latest episode of The Overlap US’ It’s Called Soccer, Neville changed his prediction, taking his former side Manchester United – who currently sit 13th in the table – out of his top four.
“I’m going to go with Arsenal [to win the title] on the basis that I think they’ll hit their form,” Neville said.
“They’ve got a decent run of fixtures over Christmas, I think they’ll get within a couple of points, a few points, and I think they will hit their form in the new year and I do think they will win the league this season.
“Top four… I’ve not got full faith in Tottenham, Aston Villa and, to be fair, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and all the other teams that are in and around it.
“I think it will be City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal at this moment in time. It’s the first time I haven’t said United will be in the top four, I think, in about 15 years!”
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Neville then said he believes the current bottom three will be the teams to drop down to the Championship.
“Relegation… Southampton, definitely, I think Ipswich will go and I’m going to say Wolves,” Neville added.
“I watched Wolves against Liverpool and, to be fair, Liverpool weren’t great in the game at all but they didn’t have to be and Wolves were absolutely awful and I thought, ‘Oh no!’.
“So I think Wolves are probably gonna go, unless they can do something in the January transfer window.”
Jamie Carragher then gave his prediction, tipping his old team Liverpool to maintain their position.
“I’ll go for Liverpool [to finish as champions] and Chelsea second because they’ve got no Europe,” the former Liverpool defender explained.
“So I’ll go with Chelsea, I’ll go with Arsenal and I’ll go with Manchester City.”
Pushed for his prediction at the wrong end of the division, Carragher added: “I’m going to go with the three teams who came up [Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester].”
