Gary Neville thinks Arsenal will finish behind Manchester City “by some distance” this season despite their amazing start.
The Gunners went back to the top of the Premier League table with a deserved 1-0 victory over London rivals Chelsea, thanks to Gabriel Magalhaes’ 63rd-minute effort.
Arsenal are two points ahead of second-placed City – who grabbed a last-gasp win over Fulham on Saturday – with Mikel Arteta’s men winning 11 of their first 13 matches.
Neville thinks that Arsenal will definitely get into the top four this season but he still has major doubts about their readiness to challenge for the title.
“We have to question Arsenal,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.
“Arsenal fans come at me every single week, every single week, because I will still continue to question them until I don’t see a moment like I did with five or six games to go last season and they get through those moments and they finish in the top-four.
“They haven’t proven it yet. It’s like a boxer who hasn’t won a title. You have to question them. But what you can’t question is that was a really, really good performance.
“It’s still very early in the season and we’ve got this unique break for the World Cup, we don’t know how players are going to react to that. There has to be questions because we don’t know what will happen after that but Arsenal have been fantastic in this first part of the season.
“They’re a real value team, they play great football, I love watching their forward players. I love Jesus, I love Saka, I love Martinelli, absolutely fantastic. Odegaard is class, he’s class.
“But I want to see it over 38 games and we’ve seen recently they’ve found it tough in the last part of the season. That is not being overly negative. It’s just saying let’s see what happens in 20 games time.
“But I do think they’re bang on to finish in the top-four. I think they’ll fall behind Man City by some distance but that would be no shame. If they finish second that would be a magnificent achievement for Mikel Arteta.
“They look like the real deal, they look like they’re going to get closer and get better. They’ve just got to show us they can do it across a season.
“I’m getting more confident that it’s going to happen but I don’t think we’re wrong to continue to question because they haven’t proved it yet.”
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