Arsenal flop Mikael Silvestre has now branded Gary Neville’s pre-season prediction of the Gunners winning the 2023/24 Premier League title under Mikel Arteta as ‘foolish’.
The Emirates Stadium club currently share the top spot in the table with Tottenham Hotspur on 20 points. Arsenal edged above the reigning champions, Manchester City, for the co-lead after beating the Citizens 1-0. Arteta’s side and Spurs are the only remaining unbeaten sides.
Manchester City usurped Arsenal to lift the Premier League title by five points last term. The Gunners led the table for 248 days but could not hold on. Pep Guardiola’s squad overturned their deficit to win the title with three games to spare. It was also their third trophy in a row.
Arsenal hope to end Manchester City’s dominance this term as they mark 20 years since the Gunners’ last Premier League title. Arsene Wenger guided the north Londoners to a historic Invincibles term in 2003/04. But they have only finished as the runners-up three times since.
Arteta invested heavily in making Arsenal threats again with the arrivals of Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and David Raya. Their arrivals convinced Manchester United legend Neville that this will be the year that the Premier League title finally heads for the Emirates.
“I am going to go Arsenal to win the league, City second,” Neville told The Overlap in August before the term. “If I was putting my life on it, I’d put City. But I’m just going to go Arsenal.”
Former Manchester United and Arsenal defender Silvestre, though, believes it is ‘foolish’ to pick the Premier League title winner already. The 23/24 season is only eight games through with 30 to play. So, while he feels Arsenal may go all the way, Silvestre will not say they will.
Silvestre won five Premier League titles at the Red Devils before joining the Gunners. Now, the Frenchman expects it will be a close race all the way between Arsenal and Manchester City in 23/24. But Arteta’s squad will have learnt from how their season fell away last term.
“They could do it,” Silvestre told GG Recon. “But I’m not going to say they will win it as that would be a foolish thing to say when you consider how long the season is. They’re better equipped than they were last season.
“I’m not going to say they will win it as that would be a foolish thing”
“They’ve strengthened their squad in key areas and they have greater self-belief. Last season, they competed for the Premier League title with a young squad.
“But now they’re a year older and I believe the experience they’ve gained from last season will make them stronger as a group and in March and April, when the games become even more crucial, they will be better prepared to deal with the tougher tests that come.
“Manchester City have a team that knows how to go on a run of wins when they need them most. I know they lost to Arsenal recently. But they were missing some key players and I’m sure the title race will continue to be close between now and the end of the season.”
Arsenal let Manchester City run away to win the Premier League title last season after their late collapse. Arteta could only draw with Liverpool, West Ham United and Southampton in April before losing to the Citizens. The Gunners also lost to Brighton and Nottingham Forest.
