Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville insists Arsenal can still win the Premier League this season despite the Gunners blowing an opportunity over the festive period.
Arsenal have just one win out of their last five Premier League I’m matches, with the run seeing Mikel Arteta’s side enter the New Year in fourth place.
The Gunners had earned an impressive draw at fellow title challengers Liverpool while reigning champions Manchester City were at the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Back to back defeats against West Ham and Fulham, however, saw Arsenal lose grip in the title race.
The former Manchester United defender believes Arsenal will be regretting missing the chance to establish a lead at the top of the table.
Neville stuck with his prediction that Arsenal will be crowned champions at the end of the season, despite their recent setback.
“I’m not going to change my prediction I don’t think you can sort of flip flop half way through a season,” Neville said.
“They’re not completely out of it Arsenal.
“I’ve been disappointed with them, they’ll be disappointed with themselves and the Arsenal fans will be disappointed with them over the past two or three weeks because they’ve missed an opportunity to put themselves in a great position.
“Not where they would be in a position where you would say they’re going to win the league but that four, five six point gap with the games they have had in the last few weeks.
“They’re just in a difficult patch but they can come back, they can win the league.”
Neville had previously expressed concerns about Arsenal lack of a clinical striker compared to their title rivals.
The Gunners are the lowest scorers in the top five, with Neville believing a ‘number one striker’ would aid their push for the title.
“The issue is at the top end of the pitch where they have a problem with putting the ball in the back of the net,’ Neville said.
“They’ve got good strikers in [Eddie] Nketiah and [Gabriel] Jesus, but they’re both two and three strikers but they’re not number one and they need a number one striker.”
Arsenal are five points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, after the Reds secured a 4-2 home win over Newcastle on Monday.
Aston Villa are two points behind Liverpool in second with Man City and Arsenal completing the top four, although the reigning champions have a game in hand.
Arsenal’s arch rivals Tottenham moved a point behind the Gunners by beating Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve.
