Can Arsenal capitalise on Manchester City’s ‘treble hangover’ to win the Premier League?

Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Manchester City on Sunday has drawn them level with Tottenham at the top of the Premier League, two points above City. The Gunners’ late winner came courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli, and Manchester United legend Gary Neville believes Arsenal can capitalise on a ‘hungover’ City side to end their wait for a Premier League title.

City pipped Arsenal to the title last season, and completed a treble by winning the FA Cup and Champions League. But Neville believes there is a ‘hungover’ element to City’s play, and Arsenal can capitalise on that.

Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya are key

Neville said: ‘I think they’ve got a big chance, Arsenal. They’ve got to keep their players fit. They’re 100-per-cent better with Declan Rice in the middle of the pitch, without a shadow of a doubt. You want more from your centre-forwards, and it was hard for both of them [against City], but there’s a question mark over whether that’ll cause them problems in the end.

‘They have to keep Rice fit, the idea of not playing Gabriel Magalhaes at the start of the season was an experiment that won’t happen again. Those two centre-halves – Gabriel and William Saliba – were pivotal against City, they were outstanding playing against the best player in the world in that position [Erling Haaland]. To beat City, and give [injured] Bukayo Saka a three-week rest, that could be a really good thing.

‘The two centre-backs and Rice are the most important players to keep fit. They won’t win the league without them. I was worried about the goalkeeper David Raya in the first half. He’s averted a bit of a crisis there. If he conceded a goal from one of those moments, honestly you’ve seen it go badly. Hopefully he’s gone home and reflected, he came out a lot better for the second half – but whatever Arteta said to them at half-time, they all came out better.”

Manchester City’s ‘treble hangover’

Neville believes City’s treble success last season has left them with a ‘treble hangover’ this season. He said: ‘The reason I predicted Arsenal to win the title is because I felt they got close last year, I thought they’d be close again and I thought there’d be a slight treble hangover for City.

‘What’s City’s cause this year? They’ve achieved utopia, they can’t do any more. When you’ve fought so long and hard to win a Champions League like they have and won the treble and repeated what Man Utd have done, there’s got to be that little bit of a sigh of relief.

‘I remember my most difficult season for United was the season after the treble. We did win the league but the other teams weren’t very good that season. I had a nightmare, it took so much out of me the previous season.

‘I think there’ll be an element of these City players just having a bit taken out of them. They’ve taken a couple of punches on the chin in the last couple of weeks, so they might have been woken up early enough and don’t write them off – absolutely not. But something’s happening, Wolves, Newcastle, now losing a game like this. Things that haven’t happened too many times in the past are starting to happen in front of their eyes.’

Conclusion

Arsenal’s victory over Manchester City has put them in pole position to win their first Premier League title since 2004. Gary Neville believes City’s treble success last season has left them with a ‘treble hangover’, and Arsenal can capitalise on that by keeping key players such as Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya fit.

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