Manchester United legend Gary Neville has backed Arsenal to bounce back from their ongoing slump and win the Premier League at the end of the season. Both Liverpool and Manchester City have secured more points than the Gunners in the English top-flight in 2023-24.
Arsenal Lost A Lot Of Ground In December
One of the favorites for the 2023-24 Premier League title, Arsenal had a disastrous December. They started the month with consecutive wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Luton Town but were handed a harsh reality check at Villa Park on December 9. Mikel Arteta and co. failed to thrive in Villa’s backyard, succumbing to a 1-0 defeat.
They returned to winning ways the following weekend with a 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, but the good feeling did not last for long. They drew 1-1 with Liverpool on December 23 before suffering consecutive defeats to West Ham United and Fulham. Owing to their lackluster end to 2023, Arsenal have slipped to fourth place in the Premier League rankings.
The Reds, who sit at the top of the rankings with 45 points, currently have a five-point lead over the north London outfit. Manchester City are third with 40 points but have a game in hand.
Neville Backs Gunners To Get Back To Their Best
Despite Arsenal’s recent wobbles, Neville remains optimistic of their chances of winning the Premier League title. Speaking on Sky Sports on Monday (January 1), he backed them to rediscover their form and put pressure on their title rivals.
The Englishman said (via The Boot Room):
“I’m not going to change my prediction. I don’t think you can flip-flop a part of the way through the season. They’re not completely out of it, Arsenal.
“I’m a little bit disappointed with them, they’ll be disappointed with themselves and the Arsenal fans will be disappointed in these last two or three weeks because I think they’ve missed an opportunity to put themselves in a great position – not where they would be in a position where you’d say they would win the league, but that four, five, six-point gap they should have with the games they’ve had in the last few weeks, they’ve just got to work it out.”
He concluded by adding:
“But they can come back, they can still win the league.”
Arsenal will return to Premier League action on January 20, with a mouth-watering tussle with Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium.