Gary Neville believes Arsenal are still more than capable of landing this season’s Premier League title – but there is something they must fix first.
Arsenal, who haven’t been champions of England since 2004, suffered a costly 2-0 defeat to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday, which has dented their trophy hopes after Liverpool and Manchester City both won on Sunday.
The Gunners were expected to pick up maximum points on the south coast, but William Saliba’s early red card proved costly as the Cherries conjured up a victory.
Neville feels it is still ‘early’ enough in the season for Arsenal to turn things around – but only on one condition. The football pundit argues Arsenal must fix their mindset and show more resilience when they are reduced to 10 men in matches.
‘If they do go down to ten men, they have got to go and win,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.
‘On a general note of Arsenal, still very early in the season, early enough for them to recover, early enough for them to still be really dangerous and win the league.
‘But I was disappointed with them [against Bournemouth] and I think they should be disappointed in themselves.’
Neville added: ‘I do genuinely believe that against Bournemouth at 0-0 with ten men they should go and win that match. They have to win that match and they cannot lose that match.
‘Obviously you can lose any game of football – but I think that is the most disappointing thing is that they haven’t won against Brighton, haven’t won against Bournemouth and I think they should be with the quality they have.
‘[They need to] stop getting players sent off, which sounds really easy, but sometimes teams go through periods where they do get players sent off and you have got to deal with it and stop it.’
The former Manchester United defender also says that there is one ‘excuse’ Arsenal can’t use in their next top-flight match against Liverpool at the Emirates.
‘Arsenal without Saliba against Liverpool – they had the excuse a couple of seasons ago [when he was out injured in the run-in],’ Neville said.
‘That was accepted, he was a big loss But they’ve added players to the squad to be able to deal with that now.’
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