Liverpool and Manchester City are well below the level required to win the Premier League title this season, says Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.
City are entering the unknown after Pep Guardiola’s departure, while Liverpool are rebuilding under Andoni Iraola.
A last-gasp Josko Gvardiol winner handed Enzo Maresca a 2-1 win in his first Premier League game in charge of City against Bournemouth and Liverpool also left it late to draw 2-2 with Newcastle.
Arsenal’s opening win was far more straightforward, swatting aside Coventry City 3-0 with minimal fuss. With only one week gone, the Gunners are already odds-on with bookmakers to win the Premier League despite there being 37 games to go.
And Neville is struggling to see a situation where City or Liverpool challenge Arsenal this season.
Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, he said: “Last week when we were previewing the season, all I kept thinking about was that this is going to be the most unpredictable season. It’s going to be intriguing because you’ve got new managers, you’ve got lots of new players, you’ve got so much change at the top.
“Arsenal should win this league by a street – and I don’t sit here on Sunday evening thinking anything differently, we’ve seen Tottenham get beat, we’ve seen Manchester United get beat, we’ve seen Liverpool nearly get beat, we’ve seen City scrambling for a win at home, so everything we thought we would see, we’re seeing. The unpredictable nature of teams at the top, probably not being good enough to go and basically do what they did last season and the season before and getting beat by teams that are well organised like Brentford and Hull and others.
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“Man City are the same as Liverpool, these two clubs were getting nearly 100 points, six, seven years ago. Treble winners, four times Premier League winners, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, Arne Slot’s champions, that’s just happened and so we’re measuring these two clubs by the standards that they’ve set, but they’re nowhere near that standard.
“This Liverpool team are nowhere near the levels of a Premier League title winning team – they need a lot of work.
“I think they’ll be happy with the point [vs Newcastle], a good finish for them, and they’re celebrating, but I think deep down when you’re measuring yourself and the standards that Liverpool have in the last five, 10 years of winning titles, I think they’ll travel home, back to Liverpool and back to Merseyside, and they’ll be thinking, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“And Man City, they’re well below where they need to be. Losing Rodri is a massive blow.”
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With City and Liverpool lagging behind, Neville can see a situation where Chelsea could be Arsenal’s closest rivals in the title race.
Xabi Alonso’s men get their campaign off and running on Monday Night Football at Fulham, where Neville will be joining Jamie Carragher to reveal his season predictions.
Neville added: “Arsenal are going to be feeling really confident right now.
“It’s the most sure I’ve ever been, and look it could be that I’ve got egg on my face at the end of the season, [but] it’s the most sure I’ve ever been after game one that we’re going to see a team be Premier League champions.
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“Chelsea will finish second, unless I see them play really badly at Fulham, so I do reserve the right to change my opinion. I do think Chelsea will finish second because of the squad and because of the fact they haven’t got European competition.
“They haven’t got the confusion, they’ve got a good manager, so I do think Chelsea have got a great chance to push Arsenal this year and finish second and be the team and let’s see on Monday night.”