Gary Neville and Graeme Souness are in agreement that Manchester City remain favourites to win the Premier League this season despite Arsenal's early title charge. The north Londoners extended their spell at the top of table after snatching three points from Liverpool in a dramatic 3-2 win.
Mikel Arteta's side have enjoyed some great form in the opening weeks of the new season, losing just once as of yet across all competitions. And, following back-to-back impressive wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Jurgen Klopp's side, the Gunners have been tipped to lock horns with Manchester City for a title race.
The reigning Premier League champions are currently unbeaten in the competition this term, but sit a point behind Arsenal in second place. Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville and Souness share the opinion that Pep Guardiola's team will reign superior once more and that every other club is fighting for a silver medal.
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"I think it’s really promising because Liverpool came back against them today, Tottenham came back against them last week to make it 1-1 - they’ve been challenged in both games against good teams," said the former Manchester United defender, speaking of Arsenal's new-found ability to claw back winning positions.
"Teams that if you’re not right will cause you big problems and I’ve questioned Arsenal’s resilience, would they fall away last season? I think part-way through I said I don’t think they’ve got it in them to make it all the way and they did, it was an alarming drop off at the end where they lost confidence.
"They looked like they were feeling the pressure of having to qualify for the Champions League," Neville added. "I thought it would be a difficult period, difficult period for Mikel Arteta to actually come back from that.
"I have to say the start to the season, recruitment, winning the games they’re now winning - obviously they lost at Old Trafford - but winning against Tottenham, Liverpool, they’re big games for Arsenal. I don’t think they’ll win the league, let’s be clear, Man City will win the league by a street in the end, Arsenal are having to be at full pelt to keep up with them but it’s good signs."
Singing from the same hymn sheet Souness agreed. The former Liverpool defender insisted that if City can avoid an onslaught of injuries and sustain a good run of form then a Premier League title race will be out of the picture for Arsenal.
"I’ve said this before, I think everyone is playing for second," Souness said. "If Man City have a good run and stay clear of injuries, I think everyone’s playing for second place.
"We are only nine games in. This is new territory for these Arsenal players. Let’s see how they deal [with the pressure] if they’re to stay there and the pressure mounts.
"They will have their injury problems, loss of form, but right now they’re certainly playing fabulous football, they lost at Old Trafford - a game they shouldn’t have lost - they’ll be thinking they’re the real deal but I’ll be saying, if I was in their dressing room, it’s a long hard season. To win the Premier League, you don’t win it by accident, you have to best the best."
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