Gary Neville believes that Arsenal have “bottled” the title race in the past three games – but has insisted they can rectify their mistakes against Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta’s side have drawn their past three games against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton to surrender their advantage at the top of the Premier League. Their lead over City is down to just five points, with Pep Guardiola’s side also having two games in hand on their rivals.
Arsenal led by two goals against Liverpool and West Ham before being pegged back, while they found themselves 2-0 down after just 14 minutes versus bottom-side Saints. They now face what could very well be a title decider against City at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
There has been a great deal of debate over the nature of Arsenal’s recent form and Neville has now given his take. Responding to an article which said Arsenal had not “bottled it” and instead framed the Gunners’ results in a different manner, Neville tweeted: “Bottling it is a very negative phrase to level at anyone or any team so can understand why so many stay clear of using it.
“However too much emotion and hurrying things are signs it’s happening. Along with looking leggy, being tense in your play and making simple errors fit the description of bottling it.
"Their [sic] is something else that can happen on this run-in. If you “bottle” it early enough ( Arsenal have ) you can catch it and snap out of it by telling yourself “what are we worrying about and we’ve nothing to lose now”.
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“That’s the energy they need to take into City Wednesday. Everyone thinks we’ve gone, we’re underdogs now so let’s go for it! I love watching title run-ins as these emotions swing back and forth.”
Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus, who won the Premier League title four times with City, gave an honest assessment of their predicament after drawing against Southampton. " Manchester City have two games in hand, but if we want to be champions we have to go there to win the game," he told Sky Sports. "That is all."
He added: "A lot of things is going on now. We don't want to come here and talk negative because we are very positive, what we are doing this season is amazing. The Premier League is tough. Now is the difficult moment. It is time now to stick together until the end.
"We still have a lot of things to do this season, it is not over, we are still five points clear. We are the youngest team in the league, not making excuses. Sometimes we do right and sometimes we do wrong, everyone can make mistakes that is why it is so important to stick together. Everything can happen.”
