Former Manchester United skipper Gary Neville revealed that if Jose Mourinho’s side are unable to lift the Premier League crown, he wants the Gunners to get their hands on the coveted trophy. Neville, who spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford, won 2 Champions League titles, 8 Premier League crowns and 2 FA cups during his 19 seasons with the club.
In a Q&A session on Twitter, the 41-year-old was asked who would he like to win England’s most prestigious trophy if his beloved club missed out on the same. The Sky Sports pundit answered that he fancies Arsene Wenger’s men to take the trophy home, but he expressed his concerns over Arsenal's title credentials. “If United don't win I hope it's Arsenal…but I'm not sure they will,” Neville tweeted.
Arsenal endured a dismal five days as they found themselves on the losing side in both their travels to the North West. The Gunners surrendered to two 2-1 defeats, first to Everton and then to Manchester City and Arsene Wenger’s side have subsequently dropped down to fourth in the Premier League table. The Gunners are currently nine points behind league leaders Chelsea, who have strung together a miraculous run of results winning 11 games on the trot.
Chelsea hitman Diego Costa’s form has been pivotal in their success and Gary Neville hailed Costa as the best player in the league. The Sky Sports pundit on being asked who is currently the best player in England, he tweeted: “Costa”. Antonio Conte’s side next host Bournemouth on boxing day but they will be without the services of the 28-year-old who has to serve a one-match ban as he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season during the game against Crystal Palace.
With the Premier league yet to reach it’s halfway stage, the title race is still wide open and former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Dean Saunders believes that Manchester United still have a chance of winning the league despite being 13 points adrift of the league leaders.
“They've turned the corner. [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic is scoring every week, the two centre-backs look good, [Paul] Pogba's looking like a different player on the left of a three-man midfield,” he opined. “They're starting to look like one of Jose Mourinho's teams, which are hard to play against. He's starting to get it together. Mourinho is getting that team functioning and before long it'll be like a machine. Whether they've given themselves too much to do [in the title race] remains to be seen but there's still a long way to go.”