Gary Neville says two teams can deny Arsenal the title after Man City beat Liverpool | Football

Gary Neville believes three teams can still win the Premier League title after Manchester City’s statement victory over Liverpool.

Man City thumped the defending champions 3-0 on the Etihad Stadium on Sunday in Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th game as a manager.

Erling Haaland broke the deadlock with a deflected header shortly after seeing his penalty saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Liverpool thought they’d equalised through Virgil van Dijk but his header was controversially ruled out for offside.

Arne Slot was furious with the choice and his mood got even worse when Nico Gonzalez rifled home Man City’s second on the stroke of half-time.

Liverpool improved after the break but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when player of the match Jeremy Doku curled in a superb third for the hosts.

A fifth defeat in 11 league games leaves Slot’s side eighth within the Premier League table, eight points adrift of early pacesetters Arsenal.

Arsenal have been far the most effective team in England this season but their ten-game winning run got here to an end on Saturday as they drew 2-2 with Sunderland.

That result and Man City’s impressive victory over Liverpool means Guardiola’s side are only 4 points behind the league leaders.

Neville admits it looks as if Man City will provide the best competition to Arsenal but has refused to rule Liverpool out of the title race.

‘I believed today was about which of those two clubs was going to emerge as Arsenal’s nearest challengers and will they send a message to the Gunners?’ Neville told Sky Sports.

‘Pep Guardiola, in his one thousandth game as a manager, his team and his staff, have done that.

‘It’s a very good day for Guardiola and Man City, nevertheless it’s a difficult day for Arne Slot and Liverpool.’

Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, Neville added: ‘Pep has giving them a little bit of belief going into the international belief.

‘They’re 4 points off Arsenal, they’ve got experience and they’ve got players who’ve been across the block and know how you can win titles.

‘He’ll just need to hang on Mikel Arteta’s shoulder by March because he’s the one you don’t want near you.

‘I believed the most important challenger [to title favourites Arsenal] could be Liverpool, I believed Man City were too inconsistent, nevertheless it looks like I used to be badly fallacious.

‘It was a really good day for Pep Guardiola and his City team. In the event that they can still be around there and get close they’ll be really, really dangerous in the course of the run-in simply because of their experience.

‘They’ve still got to persuade me that they’re going to win the title – Arsenal are the higher team – but they’re the one team and the one manager you wouldn’t want in your shoulder happening the house straight.’

Pressed on whether Liverpool could still be considered contenders for the title, Neville added: ‘I’m going to say yes.

‘If it clicked something could occur. They’ve got firecrackers and world-class players in that dressing room.

‘There’s big characters too, Van Dijk, Alisson and Salah are huge characters. They’re Premier League greats so in the event that they can pull it along with the manager who had an important first season and get something going with the younger players, possibly they will still do something.

‘But today was a worry since it was a very, really poor performance. They should have a great have a look at themselves they usually’ll know they’re nowhere near it at this moment in time.’

Arsenal would have been six points clear in the course of the November international break had it not been for Sunderland’s injury-time equaliser on the Stadium of Light.

But Manchester United legend and ex-England defender Neville downplayed the importance of the Sunderland draw.

‘I wasn’t sat there considering it was an enormous blow for Arsenal,’ he added. ‘I actually thought it was a game which may catch them out a bit.

‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and there’s going to bumps along the road. It’s normal to drop some points within the Premier League so I wouldn’t be screaming or shouting if I used to be an Arsenal player.

‘Conceding a late goal gives you a sickening feeling but they simply must get back to winning ways again after the international break.’

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