Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville does not believe Chelsea or Arsenal will be able to challenge Man City and Liverpool for the Premier League title this season.
Chelsea remain unbeaten under Maurizio Sarri and currently sit joint top of the table on 20 points after eight games with Liverpool and Man City.
Despite being ridiculed by many fans and pundits at the start of the season,ย Arsenal have now won six consecutive games in the Premier League, a run which has seen Unai Emeryโs side climb to fourth in the table.
However, Neville reckons that the commonly held view at the start of the season, that the title would be contested between Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Kloppโs sides still rings true.
โI donโt think Arsenal [will compete],โ Neville told the Sky Sports Gary Neville Podcast.
โI think Arsenal have done very well and Unai Emery has done very well but I donโt think theyโre going to be challenging for the title.
โI saw Chelsea at West Ham a couple of weeks ago and I thought they played well in the game but West Ham couldโve taken it on the counter-attack.
โI then watched the game last Saturday against Liverpool where I thought they were at full pelt to stay in that game.
โEven though they were 1-0 for so long, I did feel like they were really struggling to stay in the game – but doing well in the game at the same time.
โNot struggling in the sense of playing badly but I felt as though Liverpool just had the edge on them when I was watching.
โToday theyโve done particularly well [against Southampton] but in a game youโd think they would do well. Theyโve started the season well.
โBut I still feel, eight games in, itโs very early to think about Chelsea challenging these two [Liverpool and City]. I do think that.”