The former Manchester United man had caught plenty of flak for insisting earlier on in the season that Arsenal did not have what it takes to win the Premier League but his claims are now seemingly bearing weight.<\/p>\n
Arsenal captured the imagination and hearts of many this season, with plenty cherishing hopes that they could be the ones to finally end Manchester City\u2019s\u00a0relentless dominance over the Premier League\u00a0title.<\/p>\n
Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville sung a similar song as he has said more than once how he’d like to see the title head to the North London side instead of to the blue half of Manchester. Yet that said, he never truly believed that would happen, and with the Gunners\u2019 4-1 trouncing at the Etihad on Wednesday night, Neville’s ominous predictions look to have rung true.<\/p>\n
Despite the Gunners having led the pack for the major part of the season, Neville had coolly expressed his scepticism about Arsenal\u2019s ability to win the Premier League\u2019s top honors. The former Manchester United\u00a0captain asserted that a fourth-placed finish and Champions League\u00a0qualification is about the best Arteta and his side could hope for.<\/p>\n
Neville\u2019s blunt comments understandably created a stinging backlash among the Gunners\u2019 faithful but the former United star seems to have been spot on because while Arteta and his men are on course to finish higher than fourth this term, the end result now looks likely to fall short of expectations. A league title for the first time in 19 years now seems increasingly unlikely, although qualification to the Champions League is already in the bag, as Neville had suggested.<\/p>\n
In January, he told Sky Sports: “They won’t win the league.\u00a0Manchester City will win the league, and I think Man Utd will finish second, and I know that will annoy Arsenal fans!<\/p>\n
“The reality of it is, I think at some point Man City will hit a run. Once they do, they’ve got to play Arsenal twice.”<\/p>\n
Finally, as a point of interest, Neville doesn\u2019t seem to have gotten it all his way either as his prediction that Manchester United will \u2018finish second\u2019 also now seems to be way off target, unfortunately for him and all other Red Devils die-hards.<\/p>\n
It is still left to be determined if Erik ten Hag and his side can make it even to the top four now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"