Gary Neville assesses Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea ahead of the return of Their Premier League.
Top-flight activity resumes this weekend after the break along with the Sky Sports pro has had his say to the sides who finished last season, assessing their starts.
Read on on Liverpool’s title fee, Man City problem, Arsenal’s promising beginning below Unai Emery, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Man United reconstruct and difficult starts for Chelsea and Spurs.
Neville says:”I had been watching Liverpool in Burnley and that I had that feeling.
“I said last year that I thought they had been a championship team. They are a championship team. They are currently playing at a level that could win the title.
“You saw them at Burnley, plus they weren’t brilliant at the first 20 minutes, but they move and find a goal and then another goal.
“You speak about the clinical element of a group. The defensive bit is right, the attacking bit is correct, and the midfield appears experienced and strong. They’re a title-winning team and they had been last year, essentially with what they did”
The way to see Liverpool this weekend: Practice Liverpool vs Newcastle together with our dedicated live website from 11.30am on Saturday. Highlights of the game will be released at 5.15pm on the Sky Sports site and app and the Sky Sports Football YouTube station.
Neville says:”If Aymeric Laporte’s harm is a serious one, it’s a major problem for City. I said that I struggled to understand why City did not follow through on Harry Maguire using Vincent Kompany.
“I believed Kompany won them the league in the previous 10 matches of last season when he played all those matches. Forget the Leicester minute which was magnificent, I believed his leadership held them together at some time as if you would not believe, when Liverpool were applying pressure. In terms of that leader-type figure, I think Laporte has got that.
“I think this can cost City points. To be fair, there is not any one greater than Pep Guardiola, full stop at training. And there is no one better in making what would be make-shift centre-backs play well.
“I watched two Champions League finals where Barcelona’d Javier Mascherano and Yaya Toure playing centre-back against Manchester United. So, I am not going to sit here and make the error of thinking because they have that a lot of the ball during games even a Kyle Walker or into a Fernandinho can not turn into a leading centre-back.
“What I’d say is that when Laporte is outside for quite a while, I think that it will cost City points because he’s a dominant centre-back. I found him three times and he’s a wonderful player. It is a real stress for City. That is the 1 downer from this weekend for City and when I had been a City fan it might worry me in the short term along with the medium-term, depending on how long he was out ”
How to watch Man City this weekend: Norwich vs Manchester City is live on Saturday Night Football in 5pm; kick-off 5.30pm. Clips that are in-game can be watched by sky Sports clients in the game blog about app and the Sky Sports site. Highlights will be released on the Sky Sports Football YouTube station and app as well as the Sky Sports site soon.
Neville states:”I thought there was good things from Arsenal in their defeat in Liverpool. I came from it with a degree of sympathy, thinking there was something there to build on. I have been like this with Arsenal. Against Spurs you talk about the threat, excellent areas of the game, the seriousness but you have to mention that they do look reckless and sloppy in the trunk.
“We talked about the goalkeeper, Bernd Leno’s error. I do not quite trust him. I don’t think he is anywhere near the top goalkeepers’ class we have from the Premier League. David and Sokratis Luiz, the two centre-backs, are rash.
“You can argue that Hector Bellerin has got to return in, Rob Holding’s got to return, and Kieran Tierney has got to reunite to ensure back four can be strengthened. But you still worry that back four may still be for at which Arsenal wish to be good enough.
“They need to unearth a centre-back from someplace that’s likely to hold that back line together.
“There is still that anxiety about Arsenal that they look all over the area at the trunk when they have great players against them.
“We watched Tottenham create many opportunities on the counter-attack them against whereas the really top teams manage the counter-attack. They do not let groups to cancel them frequently, Liverpool and City in particular and maintain their attacks.
How to see Arsenal this weekend: Watford vs Arsenal is dwell on Super Sunday from 4pm; kick-off 4.30pm. Clips that are in-game can be watched by sky Sports customers in the match blog about the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights are also printed on the Sky Sports platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube station after the last whistle.
Neville says:”When you’ve got a young team such as the one Manchester United possess – it has got a great deal of gamers who are developing and trying to improve themselves – I think they are going to receive plenty of outcomes like this they do OK in the sport. They simply don’t have that medical element which would enable them to observe off the game and win the game, although I thought they played okay against Southampton.
“There’s an element of frustration from United fans because of where the club are. There is still that history of big victory under Sir Alex Ferguson but there’s been seven decades now because and there’s a component of frustration building – frustration – that they are not on the track.
“I think they are on the right track in terms of what they are doing because the first thing United must do, you have to get a bunch of people in that changing area that want to be present.
“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in what he is doing, is attempting to play the long game. To play with the game that is extended out above he will require the support. He’s going to need strong leadership during the subsequent two or three seasons to be able to get those five or four move windows he needs, not just to get people in the dressing room facing the same direction, yet to get the quality in that’s desired. You need the quality to decide on the orientation at the area.
“Exactly what Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have done at Man City and Liverpool, it required time to get right. Guardiola 12 months because he had a much better group in the first place were taken by it. It has taken Klopp four or three years to influence the culture and find a team completely in what he would say is his personality, his culture and exactly everything he wants to perform.
“It will take some time. Solskjaer is functioning more with a squad such as the only Klopp picked up than the one Guardiola inherited in City. From this point of view, this will be a game at Old Trafford and it’s going to be bothersome sometimes. There will be outcomes like Wolves, Southampton and Crystal Palace across the way, but when you watch a lot of the principles to the group are correct.
“They appear to be enjoying the right way. You see that target is scored by Daniel James and you see the way in . The style of it is correct the bones are there. But there’s still a lengthy way to go and it’s likely to be bumpy on the way”
To watch this weekend to Manchester United: Practice Manchester United vs Leicester with our committed live website from 2pm on Saturday. Highlights of the game will probably be released at 5.15pm to the Sky Sports site and program plus the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
Neville states:”The draw at Arsenal was a big moment for Spurs. In the lead up to the game, there was an element of pressure towards Tottenham in relation to Mauricio Pochettino. There were suggestions he would be on his way out. There were hints that the room was not quite as it must be when you’ve seen that the harmony between players and coach.
“I don’t think that is not there anymore. Ultimately there been some elements that are unsettling in terms of players wanting to run down their contracts and possibly perhaps attempting to leave.
“But to get withstood that strain from the second-half at the Emirates before the worldwide break and return with a point was a significant time for Pochettino. It is some thing as a trainer.
“I do not buy into this Arsenal will finish over Tottenham stuff, to tell the truth. There’s talk Spurs are on the way down, but I think they are an excellent team.”
The way to see Tottenham this weekend: Practice Tottenham vs Crystal Palace using our committed live website on Saturday from 2pm. Highlights of this game will probably be released at 5.15pm on the Sky Sports website and program and also the Sky Sports Football YouTube station.
Neville states:”Like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in Manchester United, I Believe that the same for Frank Lampard at Chelsea. We are seeing Lampard attempt to change what’s been a machine for the previous 15 years at Chelsea. They’ve been. Youlooked in Chelsea and believed they know their way. They’re wise, they’re mature.
“You take a look at this team today and it’s less expertise. It has understand how and it’s youth and immaturity regarding it. That comes some undesirable outcomes and more mistakes.
“Lampard is a young manager, but having left the decision to appoint him, it does not seem right that they’re not going to go with them and back them with what they’re trying to do – since he is attempting to change the culture in the club.
“If you are trying to do what Lampard’s performing, that will be bringing through the likes of Tammy Abraham,” Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek along with other academy-type players, then you’re going to need to give him his time. That’s Manchester United, and the question for both Chelsea. They are going to need direction that is strong, they will need to withstand some stress, especially on social networking, and also stand firm. They need to say:”We know what is being assembled, it is right and we are going to proceed with this.”
To watch Chelsea this weekend: Practice Wolves vs Chelsea using our dedicated live blog on Saturday from 2pm. Highlights of the game will probably be published at 5.15pm on the Sky Sports site and app plus the Sky Sports Football YouTube station.
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