What Gary Neville said about Arsenal way back in January is now very interesting

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Gary Neville’s comments on Arsenal and Manchester City back in January are now very interesting after last night’s game.

Arsenal travelled to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening hoping to pick up what would have been an important result in terms of their title aspirations.

Yet, Mikel Arteta’s men were second best on the night and suffered a 4-1 defeat.

The Gunners now sit just two points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s men in the league, with City having played two games less.

Arsenal have led the way for most of the campaign, and many felt that their win over Manchester United in January was a huge step towards the title.

But Gary Neville was adamant at the time the talk about winning the title was premature and City would eventually close the gap.

Neville’s comments on Arsenal and City

Speaking on Monday Night Football back in January, Neville claimed that the crucial point in the season for Arsenal would be from the beginning of April.

“I get asked this every 10 minutes at the moment who’s going to win the league as if I’ve changed my mind from 10 minutes before,” he said. “Even Arsenal fans, they must get tired of getting asked title questions 19 games in.

“Honestly, if they’d have drawn the game yesterday [vs Manchester United] by not scoring, they deserved to win that game yesterday, but if they’d have drawn that game, we’d all be saying City are only three points behind.

“We’re so far out for us to be talking about this, I’m getting asked it every 10 minutes at this moment in time.

“I feel like this is a more traditional season and I feel, I’m just going back to my own experiences many times, whereby I don’t think City have started properly yet in terms of being serious about this season.

“They’re still messing about a little bit. The manager is still rotating, not having Dias on the pitch, Laporte, De Bruyne, and Foden is not quite there.

“When they start to purr, which I’m thinking at some point they will, that they will start to motor on and really hunt Arsenal down.

“We [United] used to do it at times. Now, there were times when that didn’t work. Blackburn held us (United) off and got there, Newcastle didn’t.

“And I don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of this season, Arsenal could hold Manchester City off. But I don’t think they will once it starts, the real running and the running is not starting for another nine games, by the way.

“It’s not going to start until like April, so that’s my view.”

Of course, Neville has received plenty of backlash from the Arsenal faithful over his views on the title race.

The Manchester United legend has continued to back City throughout the season, even while Guardiola’s men were as much as 11 points off the pace at one stage.

But his comments from January could be coming true as Arsenal have picked up just one win out of five games this month.

With that being said, there are still plenty of games to be played. City clearly have the momentum, but Arsenal have the points on the board and remain at the top of the table.

All the Gunners can do now is ensure they win their remaining five games in the hope that City slip up along the way.