Gary Neville has predicted Arsenal will edge past Chelsea 2-0 in Sunday's Premier League showdown at the Emirates, backing the Gunners to maintain their perfect start and reaffirming his belief that Mikel Arteta's side will retain the title.
The Manchester United legend and former England defender, speaking on his Sky Sports podcast and The Overlap, said the London derby represents a 'really good test' for both teams, especially for Chelsea under new manager Xabi Alonso, who has overseen two thrilling victories since taking charge.
Perfect starts on the line
Arsenal began their title defence with a routine 3-0 win over newly-promoted Coventry City before beating Aston Villa 1-0 thanks to Bukayo Saka's winner. Chelsea, meanwhile, beat west London rivals Fulham 3-2 in Alonso's first competitive game in charge, followed by a 4-3 victory over Brighton at the weekend.
Both sides have scored freely, but Neville believes the Blues' attacking flair, albeit from a small sample size, has convinced many pundits that the west Londoners could challenge for the title after finishing 10th last season.
Neville's tactical assessment
Asked how Chelsea can provide a sterner test than Arsenal's last opponents, Aston Villa, Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast: 'I think Arsenal will realise Chelsea have better attacking players than Aston Villa so they'll have to be alert and alive.'
He added: 'But I think Villa are the most organised team in the league except for Arsenal, I think they're really well organised and so well drilled by Unai Emery. Chelsea aren't as well organised as that and they aren't as disciplined. They won't defend in the same way as Villa so I think Arsenal may actually fancy their chances going forward more against Chelsea, but they'll also have to be alert to the fact Chelsea have some fantastic attacking players.'
Neville expects Arsenal to win but insists the match will 'show us where both teams are', describing it as the 'ultimate test' for Alonso's side against champions who 'don't make a lot of mistakes'.
Title and European ambitions
Arsenal not only won their first Premier League title since 2004 last season but also reached the Champions League final, where they suffered a penalty shootout defeat to PSG. With the summer signings of Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Ezri Konsa, Neville expects Arsenal to be a force in Europe again.
'They can definitely have a go in Europe because they did last season and this is a better squad,' the eight-time Premier League winner added. 'They're really up for another challenge but I just feel like in the tightest moments, in the biggest matches, you just need that something different and special going forward. Not having that player might be a problem for them but they're more than capable of challenging for both the Premier League and Champions League because that's what they did last year. But I think they needed that star striker, that would have been the final piece of the jigsaw. Whether they can do it without that player is debatable.'
Revealing his scoreline prediction on The Overlap, Neville said: 'We'll go 2-0 to Arsenal. I think Arsenal are going to be so up for it and strong, they are going to be really aggressive.'
