Gary Neville admits he's changed his mind who will win Premier League title
Gary Neville no longer believes Arsenal can win the Premier League following their win over Liverpool.
The former Manchester United defender questioned the conviction of the Gunners and thought Mikel Arteta's side look relieved following the 3-1 victory. Last term's runners-up avoided falling further behind to Liverpool who remain top, though Manchester City have two games in hand.
Arsenal put in a dominant performance in an eventful match at the Emirates. Bukayo Saka handed Arsenal the lead before a defensive mix-up saw Gabriel score an own goal and the Reds able to equalise before the halfway mark.
Liverpool produced an error of their own when Alisson failed to clear the ball as he came together with Virgil van Dijk, and Gabriel Martinelli was able to capitalise. Leandro Trossard added a third goal as full time sparked enthusiastic celebrations from the home side.
Not for the first time, Arsenal's joy has come under scrutiny. The north London side narrowed the gap to the top of the table to two points but Neville believes he saw more signs that Arteta's team were not ready to go all of the way.
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He said on Sky Sports: "The celebrations at the end I don’t think were of a team that thought they were going to go on and win the title. I think they were of a team that didn’t want to be out of a title race, and that was the relief that we saw at the end.
"I agree with what Gael [Clichy] said about the word ruthless. I think Arsenal, when I watch them, are a better team than Liverpool but I think Liverpool are a more ruthless team, they’re more ruthless in the final third.
Odegaard copped criticism for his post-match celebrations (Michael Zemanek/REX/Shutterstock)"And I think that could just cost them in the end, and that’s me having said at the start of the season I thought Arsenal would win the league. But there’s still so many signs today, so many examples, of Arsenal not having that killer instinct in the final part of the pitch that I think at some point in the last part of this season it’s going to hurt them.
"So for me they’re a really well coached team, their system is good, their way of playing is good, but just that real important last bit [is missing]. Liverpool have got Jota, Salah, Gakpo, Diaz, they’ve got so much threat Liverpool. And I think that, in the end, will just be a problem."
He added: "For me, with the celebrations, I’ve gone past the idea of having a go at teams for celebrating. I just still think there’s a little bit of immaturity in their celebrations.
"Which means, to me, it felt like relief that they weren’t eight points behind."
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