Arsenal will win the Premier League in 2023-24, according to Gary Neville.
The Sky Sports pundit, along with Jamie Carragher, has given his take on the title race for the upcoming season as the Gunners look to deny Manchester City a fourth-consecutive crown.
Neville, 48, eventually tipped Arsenal to snatch the title at The Overlap’s season preview after saying he would back City “if his life depended on it” - with the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and old club Manchester United still lagging behind.
“I don’t think Arsenal could have done any more to close the gap,” he said. “They’ve shown real intent with the signings they’ve made.
“My concern is they are the only team that I think could actually win the league. With the three signings they’ve made they’re going to be better.
“I look at the other teams and think, who is going to be better than last season? Chelsea will be naturally better with the manager coming in - and they couldn’t get any worse. I don’t look at Liverpool and think, ‘Wow they’re going to be challenging for the league’, I don’t look at United with what they’ve done so far.
“Unless United, Liverpool or Chelsea do something miraculous in the transfer window, Arsenal are the only team that could challenge City at this moment in time.
“I think they could get very close to them but I would still go City, just.”
He later confirmed: “‘I am going to go Arsenal to win the league, City second. If I was putting my life on it I’d put City, but I’m just going to go Arsenal.”
Carragher, 45, agreed with Neville that Arsenal have enjoyed a fine summer by bringing in Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber following their second-place finish last season.
However, the ex-Liverpool defender outlined why the Gunners may require external forces to help them out if they are to conquer City.
“The only thing that can stop [City] is that they’re involved in other stuff,” he said.
“They go off to that World Club Championship, could that have an effect? You come back and you can be a couple of games behind someone.
“There is a myth around City that they have a massive squad, they’ve never had a massive squad. They have 15 or 16 players who are top class, but they’ve always got two or three kids on the bench. If they had a bit of bad luck with injuries, one of the big players were out how would they cope with that?
“Arsenal look a lot stronger, Liverpool, Chelsea look stronger, but it’s Pep Guardiola. He’s set the bar that high and his teams never normally get lower than 90 points. I think it’s a big ask for anyone.”
