Gary Neville makes bold prediction for Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool

Gary Neville has backed Arsenal to wreak havoc from set-pieces and come out on top against Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal sit top of the Premier League table after beating Manchester United and newly promoted Leeds without conceding a single goal in their two opening contests.

The champions, Liverpool, also board a 100 per cent record entering Sunday’s heavyweight contest, but their defensive lapses may be a slight concern for head coach Arne Slot at this embryonic stage of the campaign.

The Reds have conceded twice in each of their wins over Bournemouth and Newcastle and have had to rely on late goals in both games to save themselves from dropping points.

It sets the stage for what promises to be an absorbing clash on Merseyside in three days time – and both managers will be desperate to land an early blow in this season’s title race.

For a third year in succession, Manchester United legend Neville has predicted that Arsenal will finally end their long wait for the Premier League trophy.

And previewing this weekend’s eagerly anticipated match on latest episode of The Overlap, the ex-England right-back said he ‘fancied’ the Gunners to get the better of Liverpool.

After Jamie Carragher had predicted a 2-1 victory for Liverpool, Neville responded: ‘I fancy Arsenal to win. I’m going to let him [Carragher] pick the score, but I think Arsenal will win.

‘Arsenal to score two from set-pieces. It will be land of the giants with Arsenal on Sunday.

‘He’ll go with [Mikel] Merino, [Declan] Rice, [Martin] Zubimendi, then [Eberechi] Eze or [Leandro] Trossard, but he’ll have the big back four, four or five in the box and they’ll score from set-pieces.

‘I think Arsenal will score two from set-pieces, Liverpool will score one and it will be 2-1 to Arsenal.’

Perhaps unsurprisingly, former Arsenal striker Ian Wright also backed Arsenal to prevail away from home.

‘I think Liverpool will score one, but I’m going 2-1 to Arsenal,’ Wright said.

‘If that [Liverpool] defence did what they did against Bournemouth, we can win the game.’

Wright has been taken aback by Max Dowman’s meteoric rise to the first-team and wouldn’t be surprised to see the 15-year-old given minutes on the big stage against Liverpool.

‘When you speak to the guys in the team, they are just flabbergasted.It’s the ability to take on the information, they can’t believe it,’ he said of Dowman.

‘When you hear someone like Declan Rice say, “I can’t believe he can just take it”, and this is why when he plays, he comes on and he’s going straight for you.

‘He’s fearless. I don’t know if that’s just because it’s an exuberance of youth, but he’s still going at a man… a man.’

Wright added: ‘He’s very creative, he scores good goals, he’s everything you need.

‘Do you know something? I think he’ll get some minutes at Anfield. Why wouldn’t you put a 15-year-old on at Anfield if you can, especially if you’re winning?

‘The fact is, if he’s good enough to be there now… you can’t just be good enough to be there against Leeds when you’re 4-0 up. If you’re good enough to be in the first-team that means you’re in the first-team.’

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