The Gunners face Manchester United at 4.30pm on Sunday needing a win to stay in contention with Manchester City at the top heading into the final week of the season. Mikel Arteta’s side entered the season's penultimate weekend one point ahead of City, but the defending champions have the advantage thanks to a game in hand.
Arsenal need to win their final two matches to make things interesting and have a shot at pipping Pepe Guardiola's men to the title. And they face an out-of-form United first up, with Erik ten Hag’s injury-ravaged side having won just two of their last 10 in the Premier League.
United are languishing down in eighth place following their 4-0 thrashing by Crystal Palace on Monday and desperately need points in order to secure some European football next season. And Neville is backing them to upset the apple cart and effectively hand the title to their rivals City.
“This is the big one,” Neville said on The Overlap. “Arsenal have a poor record here. There’s three things that stand out to me. Firstly, this is massive for Arsenal. Secondly, United’s record against the big teams isn’t that bad at home. A lot of the top teams haven’t beat United at home.
“And thirdly, Arsenal have got a really poor record at Old Trafford. People are almost dismissing Man United in this game because they’ve been that bad, which we all get, but it can be a graveyard, Old Trafford.
“Look, Arsenal should win but I’m not sure they will. Arsenal should win but there’s a madness about Old Trafford and this game, usually in a title race it doesn’t work out how you think. I’m going 2-2, this is just my feeling. Arsenal should win but it’s a feeling I have.”
Gary Neville is backing Manchester United
Manchester United are in poor form heading into the game
Arsenal have indeed lost on their last two trips to Old Trafford and needed two injury-time goals to secure their 3-1 win in the reverse fixture back in September.
But they have been in imperious form on the road in the league of late, smashing in 27 goals and conceding just three in their last eight, with City the only side to stop them from winning.
Asked about United’s form, Arteta said: “I don’t think about it, every game has a different context. We know the difficulty and the history when you look at what we’ve done over there, so we’re going to have to be at our best to earn the right to win the game.”
Arteta also dismissed the significance of Arsenal’s record at Old Trafford, adding: “We know what we need to do but first of all we have to perform at a really high level to deserve to win the match. That’s what the focus is.”
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