Gary Neville thinks Arsenal will still edge Manchester City to the Premier League crown but warned Gunners fans they face “10 weeks of pain” en route to their first title in 22 years.
Mikel Arteta’s side restored their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Chelsea on Super Sunday after Man City had edged out Leeds 24 hours earlier.
Since a two-goal collapse at bottom side Wolves, the Gunners have now successfully navigated back-to-back London derbies to keep City at arm’s length, though Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand which could reduce the deficit at the top to two points.
Neville praised Arsenal’s response to that last-minute heartbreak at Molineux, and said their resilience would get them over the line in the title race in the final nine games of the season.
“They have quality, physical strength and experience of the last three years of losing it,” he said. “They have to look back on the last three years. They know this is going to be hard work. They’ve got 10 more weeks of pain, these Arsenal fans watching in the crowd, watching at home sometimes when they’re away.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Arsenal’s match against Chelsea in the Premier League
“This is not going to be pleasant, it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be anxious but they’ve got to enjoy the thrill of it, that’s why they’re here.
“Every single time we come to Arsenal, and we’ve done this for a number of years – we go over to that 2004 year that’s over there, half way up across the stand and say they haven’t won the league for 22 years.
“They have got to try to get rid of that. In the last three years they’ve been up against City and Liverpool, and they’ve lost out in those battles. They’ve got to call upon the experiences they’ve had and dig in like you wouldn’t believe – and they’re doing that.
“The one worry other than injuries and number of games is being up against Pep Guardiola’s machine, who have won titles. Gabriel Jesus has won the Premier League but he doesn’t look like the kind of type who’s going to get the players over the line on his own.
“The one question you would have is who is the player in that dressing room settling everyone down, composing them. We had a lot of experienced winners, and it is hard work but I do think they’ll get there.”
Neville pointed to Arsenal’s biggest problem in the final three months of the season arising from their sheer number of games, given the Gunners are still fighting on all fronts and face a potential 21 games in 87 days should they reach the final of both the FA Cup and Champions League.
Arteta has strengthened his squad depth this season with signings such as Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres – but Neville still believes he faces a significant balancing act to end that two-decade wait for a league title.
“You can’t throw away a Champions League, you can’t throw away a Carabao Cup final, so how Mikel Arteta rotates, how he uses his squad, how he stays clear of injuries is going to important,” he said.
“Arsenal have to in some ways take a calculated risk in the FA Cup. That’s not to disrespect it but you have to look it at and trust your second XI right up to the semi-final. The Carabao Cup final is a one-off game, you have to play your best team. The Champions League you have to play your best team, and obviously in the Premier League.
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William Saliba and Jurrien Timber reacted to Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea
“But the FA Cup does give Mikel Arteta a chance to take a risk. That might be the competition they falter in – they’ve got Mansfield in the fifth round so they’ll probably get across the line there, but as it goes through that’ll be the one which might fall by the wayside.”
Arteta: My heart almost stopped during Chelsea win
Mikel Arteta said his “heart almost stopped” during the nerve-jangling finale of the win, during which David Raya sensationally pushed Alejandro Garnacho’s cross around the post.
“The save that he made in the last action, from what ended up being an unbelievable shot, I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped. But David’s hand was there to bring it back to life.
“I try to stay calm, but obviously, we weren’t getting the dominance and the sequences of play that we wanted and would expect against 10 men.
“You have to navigate through that, and it’s a big part of the game. Everybody’s suffering because the margins are so small.”
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Mikel Arteta gave his verdict on the victory at the Emirates Stadium
Jurrien Timber’s 66th-minute winner marked Arsenal’s 16th goal from a corner this season to equal a record shared by Oldham and West Brom for a single Premier League campaign with nine games still to go.
The set-piece goals carried Arsenal to a second win in a week in which they were drawing at half-time following the 4-1 win over Spurs in last weekend’s north London derby.
Arteta added: “I reminded the players that we were in exactly the same position against Tottenham seven days ago in that dressing room.
“They said: ‘Look what happened in the second half! So we’re going to do it again, but we’re going to have to go through some difficult patches to earn the right to win the game’. And we certainly did that.”
