The Premier League produced some exciting results over the weekend, with the surprise being Manchester United’s defeat to West Ham and Tottenham Hotspurs losing 1-0 to Crystal Palace.
Chelsea returned to winning ways after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Newcastle United, which saw them move just a point behind the placed finish.
The weekend’s big game between Arsenal and Liverpool ended in a 2-2 draw at the Emirates. The winner of this time is obviously Manchester City, who now sits on top of the Premier League after a 1-0 defeat to Southampton.
Former Manchester United Captain Gary Neville believes the draw between Liverpool and Arsenal gives Manchester City an early advantage in the race to win the Premier League for a record 5th time.
What did Gary Neville say?
The former England right-back said on his Gary Neville podcast: “Manchester City will drop points as well at some point in the season, and they’ll have difficult weekends, but this is a good one for them.
“It’s the result they would have wanted.’
“City, at this moment in time, are clear favourites – they’re ahead in the league where they would want to be, but there is a long way to go.
“I think this season has got something left in it, and Pep and City will think that as well but it’s a good weekend for them.”
Gary Neville added that both managers would be happy with the 2-2 draw and claimed that Arsenal would be proud despite not being their usual best since the season started.
He added: “These two managers that left here tonight will also feel like they’ve got very strong squads.
“They can be proud of their starts to the seasons in the sense of where they are and close to City and just hang in there, stay on the shoulder.
“Arsenal last year, there was an expectation towards the end that they couldn’t get over the line.
“It might be that this time, if they are going to do it they, might have to come from behind a little bit, and their form will come later in the season.
“Arsenal haven’t started as perfectly in terms of form, as you would like they’re not playing anywhere near their best but that’s not a bad thing.
“I used to worry about teams that started off like a house on fire. You rarely did that, you want to be hitting your full pace coming into February, March or Arpil – that’s where you really want to be strong.”
Arsenal will face a tricky trip to St. James Stadium to face Newcastle without their first choice centre back, William Saliba and Gabriel Maghelles.
