'Only two teams can' - Gary Neville changes Premier League title prediction after Liverpool loss & Arsenal win
Liverpool’s late slip up to Crystal Palace has given those below them a bit of hope, but is the Premier League a two-horse race?
This summer saw the Premier League spend more money than the rest of Europe put together with as many as five clubs having genuine title aspirations before a ball was kicked.
Despite not firing on all cylinders, Liverpool got off to a flyer, finding a way to win, showing why they are champions with a series of late winners, only for Crystal Palace to beat them at their own game and cement themselves as Arne Slot’s bogey team.
When the Eagles visit Anfield, the disgruntled Reds boss will have to come up with something else to get the better of Oliver Glasner who got his tactics perfect at the weekend. They won’t be the only team to go to Selhurst Park and drop points.
Gary Neville makes two-horse Premier League title race claim
Man City and Chelsea have yet to find any consistency despite spending a lot of money in the summer and Tottenham have a strong starting XI but not the depth to sustain a challenge for 38 games.
It is a sentiment that Gary Neville agrees with having updated how he thinks the Premier League title race will play out.
Speaking after Arsenal’s dramatic late win over Newcastle United, the former Manchester United defender reckons that Mikel Arteta’s squad is the strongest in the league: “Mikel Arteta has got a brilliant squad. He’s got a brilliant squad, I think he’s got the best squad in the league and maybe the best team in the league and I say that quietly because Liverpool are excellent. There’s only two teams who can win this league – Liverpool and Arsenal – I don’t think anyone else can.”
It’s taken Neville just six games to write Man City out of the title race and to make it one with only two horses looking to get to the finishing line first.
Out of the three, Arsenal have the greatest consistency in terms of stability, even if they might not be as expansive or exciting to watch as their nearest rivals. The next run of fixtures sees City and Arsenal with more favourable games than Liverpool with a November meeting between Pep Guardiola and Slot at the Etihad likely to determine whether or not City can throw their name into the mix.
Who Neville thought would win the title at the beginning of the season
Speaking earlier in the season, Neville included City as one of the favourites which makes his decision to write them off a strange one given the fixtures that are still to be played.
“Between Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, all of them have got cases to win the Premier League,” Neville said on his Sky Sports earlier in the campaign.
“All equal cases as well, I don’t think you can look at any of the three and think they’re definitely above the others. All three of those teams have got genuine cases. Liverpool may be slight favourites but I don’t think any club will be completely confident to win the league even though they all have a great chance.
“It’s really close I think.”
One thing that Neville is right about, is that it is going to be really close and a final day shoot out wouldn’t be a surprise. How many teams are still involved in it is another story.