Liverpool and Arsenal are looking like two of the biggest threats to Manchester City’s Premier League crown this season but the mood around the two camps is vastly different following the weekend’s results.
The Merseyside giants further enhanced their credentials as potential title contenders with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield and continued their good start to the campaign.
Arsenal had a very experience at Bournemouth over the weekend where they lost 2-0 and also had to see William Saliba get sent off after receiving a straight red card.
The Frenchman has emerged as one of the best defenders in the world and has been one of the key bedrocks of the Arsenal team who have challenged for the Premier League in the previous two seasons.
Saliba’s absence is going to hurt Arsenal when they host Liverpool at the Emirates and it is something Mikel Arteta and his team will have to overcome.
However, Gary Neville indicated that Arsenal are likely to use it as an excuse to escape if they get beaten by the Reds at home on Sunday.
Gary Neville won’t accept the William Saliba excuse if Arsenal lose to Liverpool
The former Manchester United defender admitted that previously Arsenal did miss Saliba’s presence in the team at crucial junctures.
However, Neville pointed out that since then Arsenal have spent money to strengthen their squad and other players in the team could replace the Frenchman.
He stressed that for a team that aspire to win the Premier League, they can’t allow one player’s absence to affect their overall quality this much and it would be unacceptable as an excuse if Liverpool beat them at the Emirates.
“Arsenal without Saliba against Liverpool – they had the excuse a couple of seasons ago [when he missed the run-in in their 2022/23 title battle with Manchester City] and that was accepted, he was a big loss”, Neville said on his podcast for Sky Sports.
“But they’ve added players to the squad to be able to deal with that now.
“You can’t be one player away, having a one-match ban, and the level goes from [high to low]. You have to remain consistent and reliable if you get an injury.”
Arsenal signed Italy international Riccardo Calafiori in the summer but he has largely been used as a left-back at the start of the season.