Arsenal: Gary Neville makes new Premier League title prediction as Man City 'smell blood'

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·16 December 2025

Arsenal: Gary Neville makes new Premier League title prediction as Man City 'smell blood'

Man City have taken advantage of Arsenal’s mini slump in recent weeks to reduce gap at the top of the Premier League

Gary Neville has said Arsenal remain favourites for the Premier League title, but has warned Manchester City are “dangerous”.

Arsenal’s lead at the summit has been reduced to two points by Man City while they are also only three points clear of Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.

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The Gunners were beaten at Villa Park at the start of the month, barely scraped past bottom side Wolves at the weekend and have not won any of their last three away games in the league.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s side have won their last four league games in a row, scoring at least three goals in each and “will be smelling blood” according to Neville.

“There shouldn’t be panic in Arsenal’s camp, I think that they have come through a challenging set of fixtures,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.

“Very scrappy against Wolves on Saturday evening, I did not think that was a game of glory for them but they have got to get the balance right between thinking ‘the victory is the most important, we can get over the line’ but giving yourselves a little bit of a slap around the face and saying ‘look we can’t have too many of those types of performances or else we will end up with a bloody nose’.

“It is that little bit of a wake up moment, you’re coming into a period where there’s lots of points to play for.

“City have got Haaland, they do have Pep and they do have a few more players who have got real quality and experience of being round the block.

“They are probably smelling a little bit of blood and thinking ‘we’re on your shoulder, we’re coming and we’re going to be there in March and April, can you handle this?’

“If you’re going to win your first Premier League title in 20 years it’s not going to be handed to you on a plate.

I think they are a better team than Manchester City and they’ve proved that in the first few months of the season

Gary Neville

“This has to be Arsenal’s year, I’m absolutely convinced of that. There’s nothing that’s going to let me let them off the hook, they’ve got an incredible squad, they’ve got stability. I think they are a better team than Manchester City and they’ve proved that in the first few months of the season.

“But City are dangerous. They’re dangerous because they’ve got that manager who is a prolific winner, they’ve got a striker who is absolutely world class, he’s the player in the league that is absolutely standout...a dream, what a player.

“They’ve got really dangerous characteristics, talent and potential to go and cause upsets.

“I still think it’s Arsenal’s and this moment was probably going to come. If Arsenal are sat there now asking themselves the question ‘did you think it was going to be a bed of roses, did you think it was going to be plain sailing, did you think we were just going to sail home to shore and that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola weren’t going to have a little bit of a punch at us?’

Arsenal laboured to victory against Wolves

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“No. The reality is that you are going to have that and in a season of a Premier League, it’s a marathon.

“That’s that moment, it will happen maybe a bit more over the next few weeks. They might even lose the lead at one point and might have to go back, but Arsenal have got to get themselves mentally right for the next four or five months, it’s such a huge moment for the club.

“I still think they will do it but they have got to make sure they step up.”