Gary Neville said live on Sky Sports that Arsenal need to balance their emotions ahead of next Sunday’s crucial Premier League title showdown with Manchester City.
In another dramatic development in the title race, the Gunners lost 2-1 to Bournemouth in Saturday afternoon’s kick-off, opening the door for Josep Guardiola’s side to close the gap by another nine points.
This was another chance they took, giving them a 3-0 win over Chelsea and cutting their lead over Arsenal to six points. The two teams are scheduled to meet at the Etihad next weekend in what is being billed as a title decider.
Man City will have a week to prepare for the match, while Arsenal will play the Champions League quarter-final second leg at home against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday as they aim to reach the top four of the competition.
However, Neville believes the game will be beneficial for the Gunners as they look to bounce back from the defeat to Bournemouth, and explains on the Gary Neville Podcast why winning their first title in 22 years has not been easy.
“Arsenal have to balance their emotions this week and swim against the tide.”
“I said a few months ago that Arsenal have to win this title from the position they are in and I still believe they have to, because there is a long way to go at the end of the season and if we don’t win this year it will be really traumatic.”
“We know how things are going to go for next week’s game, we know how it’s going to go against Arsenal. We know Man City are going to catch up and we’re happy to see Arsenal collapse. They’re going to try to swim against the current and have to keep their nerve.”
“They have a job to do in midweek of the Champions League and that might actually help them. If Arsenal had a week to think about this game (against Man City), I don’t think it would help them at all. They could be confident by getting into the Champions League semi-finals.”
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Free to watch: Highlights of the Premier League match between Arsenal and Bournemouth
“But by next Sunday, they have to find the necessary emotion, the passion, and the balance of that emotion to fight to win football matches but not become too desperate.
“Arsenal lost on Saturday not because they didn’t want it, but because they wanted it too much and it’s starting to weigh them down.
“When you’re aiming for your first title, you start to get tired, you’re mentally drained, your legs look physically tired.
“That’s part of what we saw against Bournemouth: ‘We’re going to win this game, we’re going to win the title and we’re desperate to get it. We want to win it for the first time in 22 years and we’re going to be legends at the club’.”
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Free to watch: Premier League highlights of Chelsea vs. Manchester City
“It’s not them themselves saying that, it’s the noise around the club, the emotion in the stadium, the expectations and the fact that they haven’t done that in the last two or three years that they’ve been in this position.
“Now it’s the real deal. This is the title race now and they have to somehow sort out their minds and get their emotional balance right.”
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“Nobody wanted to hand the title to Arsenal. This is the way it should be.”
“Arenal can win the title at the Etihad next weekend.
“Maybe I have more faith in Arsenal than Arsenal itself, but when you’re in the title race and you’re losing a football game by six games, you have to put it in perspective.
“Can Arsenal make sure next week they don’t feel the fatigue in their legs and the pressure of playing this type of game? Can they be as free as a kid on the playground?”
“That’s the feeling you want: to feel confident and able to express yourself.
“Did they really expect to be handed their first title by Pep Guardiola or the Manchester City team or the Premier League? That didn’t happen.
“You can’t run away with a 26-point deficit and win your first title. That doesn’t happen. That’s not reality. It’s always going to be a struggle and we’ve probably had some bad experiences in the past seasons to get to this point.
“So if we can normalize everything that happened to them and feel like, ‘This is what we expected, no one was going to put it on the plate and give it to us, and we were basically going to cross the line and take a victory lap. It doesn’t work out that way and this is how it should be.”
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Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge debate who has the edge in the Premier League title battle between Arsenal and Man City
“I’ve been thinking for years that with this Arsenal team we have to go and win a world-shaking game. They have to go to City next week and win.
“It doesn’t matter what happens. You can get beat up in the first half, you can go goalless at half-time, you go to score with 15 minutes left and all of a sudden the lights go on and you’re up by nine points.
“That’s what Arsenal have to believe this week.
“The problem they have is that they don’t have any players at the club who have won titles. I think Gabriel Jesus is too, but I don’t think he’s the type of player to apply that to the dressing room. He’s a good player, but he doesn’t seem to be a player who can really set the tone.”
“Mikel Arteta is always looking for ways to gain an advantage and he has to find something again this week.”
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Manchester City manager Josep Guardiola looks ahead to next weekend’s game against Arsenal and has spoken about how difficult it will be to beat the Gunners for the second time in as many weeks following their Carabao Cup win.
“It’s a perfect situation for Man City, but Arsenal will cross the line.”
“For Man City, they are going to build on this. Pep Guardiola and his players have got the perfect situation.
“The Man City crowd has won titles before and their manager is an absolute legend, one of the greatest of all time. He will be immediately present for this game next Sunday.
“It’s almost perfect for him. We have Rodri, we have (Gianluigi) Donnarumma, we have (Erling) Haaland, we have (Phil) Foden, we have Bernardo Silva, all these players have won before.
“It’s a great contrast for next weekend and I can’t wait.
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A Man City fan pretends to drink water from an Arsenal water bottle after Man City’s 3-0 win over Chelsea
“I feel like now is the time for Arsenal. I’m not saying it’s now or never, but I do feel that if you’ve been trying to climb that mountain for five years and failed at the last hurdle every time, there has to be a moment when you cross the line.”
“Arsenal are going to get over the line. I don’t think they’re going to get over the line easily. They could even lose next week, but I think they probably have a bit of a cushion.”
“Manchester City are not perfect and Arsenal are only getting there, but they are in a much worse situation than they were at 12.30pm on Saturday, just before kick-off against Bournemouth.”
