Gary Neville has made a bet with an Arsenal fan which would see the pundit don a Gunners shirt if Mikel Arteta's team win the Premier League.
Former Manchester United defender Neville has regularly played down Arsenal 's title hopes despite the London club sitting top of the Premier League table for most of the season. A midweek win against Everton took Arteta's men five points clear of second place Manchester City, while Neville's former club will still be eight adrift of Arsenal even if they win their game in hand.
Neville suggested Arsenal's celebrations after a dramatic late win at Aston Villa emphasise why the title will not end up in north London. The former England international has now put his money where his mouth is with his promise to a rival supporter on social media.
"If Arsenal win the league @GNev2 should shave his head bald on the Emirates pitch on the last day of the season for charity," an Arsenal fan wrote on Twitter. While the pundit didn't agree to those terms, he made a different pledge.
"I will wear an Arsenal shirt saying champions for you my friend!" Neville wrote, quoting the original tweet. "But if you lose it you all grovel on here and say “Sorry Gary"."
It is far from the first time the 48-year-old has locked horns with Arsenal supporters on social media. In February, he was quick to remind one fan the club "haven't won the league yet".
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"It’s too much emotion, too early for Arsenal," Neville told The Overlap in Focus, in relation to the late 4-2 win at Villa Park. "To be that desperate and to celebrate that much with half the race still to go, it’s not a good thing.
"After the Aston Villa game, I can understand how big of a moment it was, but that level of celebration was quite desperate, quite early. There was a lot of celebrations at the end of the game. The emotions are something that’s a negative, it’s not a positive for me in a title race."
However, despite questions over an ability to last the course, Gunners goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has insisted the club are spurred on by previous setbacks. Arteta's team were in pole position for a top four finish last season, only to fall away in the final weeks of the season.
“It hurt a lot,” the England international said. “Especially as we’d lost to the other lot down the road, which made it even worse for our fans and for us.
“That was definitely a driving factor at the start of the season and is something now we forget about because of the position we are in. But it was definitely massive at the start of the year.”
