Neville believes ‘dangerous’ Man City ‘sent Arsenal a message’ with Guardiola ‘mind games’ | OneFootball

Gary Neville believes Manchester City’s celebrations after beating Newcastle United were Pep Guardiola and his players “sending a message” to title rivals Arsenal.

City beat Eddie Howe’s side 2-1 in an edgy encounter on Saturday to close the gap on the Premier League leaders to two points.

The Gunners did not cave under the pressure when they faced north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, winning 4-1 thanks to goals from Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres.

The gap is back up to five points, but we definitely have a title race on our hands.

The title is still in City’s sights after Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers last Wednesday, with April’s clash between the two sides promising to be pivotal.

City have been there and done it multiple times under Guardiola, whereas Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004, and their only major trophy under Mikel Arteta is the FA Cup in 2020.

Sunday’s result was a huge psychological boost for the current leaders, but Neville insists City are “dangerous” with their attacking power.

“Man City are dangerous with the fact they’ve got [Omar] Marmoush, [Erling] Haaland, [Rayan] Cherki, [Antoine] Semenyo, [Phil] Foden,” Neville said on his podcast.

“If they can keep the centre-backs fit, they’ve got a chance. The goalkeeper’s good, the manager is exceptional.”

Neville added that Guardiola and his players were “sending a message” to Arsenal with their celebrations after beating Newcastle, letting their title rivals know they are not going anywhere.

“The celebrations at the end from Haaland and Pep Guardiola were meaningful,” the Manchester United legend said. “They were sending a message – that was mind games at play. Pep will say it’s not, but it is.

“Every time you speak now for the next two months, every time you do something on the pitch, it’s going to be transmitting to the opposition team – that’s vulnerabilities, strength, celebrations, whatever it is.

“So what Arsenal had to cope with and the questions that they’ve had to answer, I missed one of them out and that was the fact that Man City have sent a message that we’re coming for you and we’re going to be breathing down your neck.

“Arsenal have withstood that, and they’re going to have to withstand that for another six to eight weeks. They were never going to get this Premier League title handed to them on a plate. It doesn’t work like that.

“It’s a struggle, it’s a battle, it’s a fight and this City team aren’t quite the team that were going through those fights with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, but there’s still some characters in that dressing room who understand it and know it – particularly the manager, so they’re going to be so dangerous.”

Neville does think Arsenal will win the title, though.

He continued: “I think Arsenal will get there, but it doesn’t surprise me that they are making mistakes and that City are coming back at them. They’ll almost crawl over the line in the end.

“It’s going to be a massive struggle. I don’t think it’s going to be easy and that game is going to be monumental at the Etihad.”