Gary Neville has shared that he doesn’t trust Arsenal in the race for Champions League football because he hasn’t seen how they will cope with the ‘pressure’ that is now on them during these last few months of the season, as he told Sky Sports.
The former Manchester United defender warned Arsenal ahead of their trip to Aston Villa on Saturday and made it clear that it’s going to be a ‘real test’ for them.
Mikel Arteta’s side suffered a mini setback in their quest to finish in the top four when they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool on Wednesday night.
Other than deflating a bit of their morale, the north London club should still be the favourites to make a return to the Champions League ahead of Man United, West Ham and Spurs.
Games against the likes of Man United and Spurs are yet to come for the Gunners, but Neville warned that they have to deal with the pressure of beating Villa before they can think about any of that.
“I said I didn’t trust Arsenal because I have not seen them go through these last ten games, with a little bit of pressure on them that hasn’t existed before because people expect them now to finish fourth,” said Neville.
“What will be a real test is Saturday lunchtime. If they go and get three points at Villa, then you would say Arsenal are still big favourites.
“But, if they do go to Villa, drop points or lose, then that’s when you will start to think that there is a real top-four race on. I think there is anyway. I have got that sneaky feeling that Manchester United have so much more to call upon in terms of players.
“The most important thing is they have to respond at Villa. They have got Chelsea to come and Tottenham to come. Forget about that, it’s the Villa’s they have to win. It’s how they do against the Aston Villa’s away that will really define whether they will finish in the top four.”
The issue facing Arsenal is that for large parts of the season, they have played very little midweek football.
But their trip to Villa Park at Saturday lunchtime is going to be their third game in six days.
This isn’t just going to be a test of their quality, but fitness levels also because Villa have nothing to play for, which makes them more dangerous.
Their strength lies in attack, and given that there is no pressure on them, Arsenal will do well to keep a clean sheet at the weekend.
Steven Gerrard’s side have scored in every home game this season, bar their 1-0 defeat to Watford, and in that game, they had 20 shots at goal.
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