Gary Neville has now admitted that Liverpool will almost certainly win the Premier League title this season. But he just cannot bring himself to give that much credit to Arne Slot’s side.
Instead, Neville is blaming his pick for the Premier League title at the start of the season — Arsenal — for not being good enough, rather than Liverpool having improved. Neville’s belief is that the league title is heading to Anfield more because Arsenal has dropped off than because Slot’s team has been excellent.
“Liverpool have been strong, but Arsenal should have been closer to them,” he said on Sky Sports. “Arsenal of last season are as good if not better than the Liverpool this season. Arsenal should be neck and neck with them.
“Arsenal haven’t signed a striker for three years and now it’s woe me that they haven’t got a striker. They’ve got Kai Havertz up front and he doesn’t fancy Gabriel Jesus as a striker anyway.
“Havertz is his only option and surely you have got to plan that in a 55-game season, you are going to lose a player or two. They haven’t got back-up for Havertz and Jesus and they’ve left themselves short in the transfer window.
“They’ve signed loads of players to cover for the fact that William Saliba [being injured] was the problem two years ago when they fell away in the last part of the season. They then had a problem last year with midfield, they reckon, so they signed players in that area.
“For me, they’ve left themselves short, Arsenal, through poor recruitment and a little bit of rigidity with the set-pieces. If Arsenal had the number of points last season that they had last season, they would be champions.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Arsenal have dropped off this season and that will cause Mikel Arteta a problem. I think he’s done a great job but he needs to get back to the level he was last season next season.”
Last season, Arsenal finished its league campaign on 89 points. If Liverpool was to pick up nine wins from nine to end the season, it could finish this year on 97 points. While that is perhaps unlikely, the suggestion that the points total will be drastically different from other years is incorrect.
The Reds could beat Manchester City’s total from last season by winning seven, drawing one and losing one of their final nine fixtures. If they carry on picking up points at the same rate as they have been, they will end on 92 points — one more than Manchester City won the league title with last year.
Liverpool.com says: If the Reds win the title and draw level with Manchester United this season then Neville is not going to enjoy that. He is an excellent pundit but when it comes to those two teams, he just can’t seem to get past the rivalry. If Liverpool wins the league title, it will have deserved to do so for its performances. It might even win a couple more trophies on top of that too.
