Gary Neville has joined Joe Cole and Joleon Lescott in predicting yet another season in which West Ham could prevent Arsenal from winning the title.
The Hammers have beaten Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in each of the past two seasons, putting the stoppers on the Gunners’ title chances both times.
And while West Ham lost at the Emirates earlier this season, they host Mikel Arteta’s title chasers at London Stadium next month, and have a huge chance to put a further blow in their hopes of winning their first Premier League title since 2004.
Arsenal were going for an unprecedented quadruple only a few weeks ago, but defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup and Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final means they only have two trophies left to play for.
They were also nine points clear of Man City at the top of the table before losing to Bournemouth at home, meaning the gap is now just six with six games left after Man City thrashed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
So things have become a bit tense in north London, especially ahead of their vital Premier League clash against City this coming weekend.
But of course, West Ham have their own issues to worry about at the other end of the table as they currently sit two points above the bottom three.
Neville predicts potentially title-deciding result
Gary Neville laughing
Gary Neville is expecting Arsenal to bottle the title.
Arsenal travel to east London with three games left of the season, and it’s likely both the title race and battle for survival will still be well and truly on.
That means both sides will go into the clash desperately needing a result, although for the Gunners anything less than all three points could prove to be a disaster. West Ham, though, will likely be happy with just avoiding defeat.
Earlier this month, both Joe Cole and Joleon Lescott predicted a draw in this fixture and now Gary Neville has follow suit on The Overlap.
“Oh, West Ham. That’s a tough one. I think that’s a draw. That’s 1-1,” the Sky Sports pundit said when asked to make a prediction.
The consequences if that result becomes a reality could be monumental at both ends of the table.
If Man City beat the Gunners this weekend, then all they need to do is win all of their remaining games to win the title. Arsenal’s only hopes of winning the title, in that case, will be to ensure they also win all of their remaining games and also better Man City’s goal difference.
So, dropping points could be disastrous and could likely hand Pep Guardiola a 7th Premier League crown.
Meanwhile, a point for the Hammers could further push Tottenham closer to relegation to the Championship, should Spurs still be trailing the Hammers.
For West Ham fans, taking anything from that Arsenal game could lead to the dream scenario – Arsenal bottle the title, they stay up and Spurs go down.
Let’s hope Neville, Cole and Lescott are right.