Gary Neville has updated his predictions for the Premier League title race after Manchester City beat Liverpool to cut Arsenal’s title lead to four points.
Premier League champions Liverpool were brushed aside at the Etihad Stadium as Jeremy Doku inspired a 3-0 win as City cut the gap at the top to Arsenal to four points.
After a stuttering start to the season, City have now won five of their last six Premier League games and have established themselves as the most serious - and likely only - title rivals to Arsenal.
And Neville believes that City are the only team in the league which Arsenal would not want to go toe to toe with in a title race, given their experience.
"You would come into [City] games knowing the outcome, but now when you watch City you're not quite sure what's going to happen," Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.
"They are imperfect. They are a lot more physical ... they're very different in terms of not being as methodical, not as good at playing out from the back, but they are still a very good side.
"If City can keep some momentum going, they're going to be really, really dangerous towards the end of the season because of their experience."
He added: "Pep Guardiola will be thinking 'Come on, let me hang on Mikel Arteta's shoulder until March, let me be close enough to him to apply that pressure.' He's the one you wouldn't want near you.”
"It's going to be really interesting what happens with City," Neville continued. "I would say that they’ve still got to convince me that they’re going to win a title – Arsenal are the better team – but they’re the one team and the one manager I wouldn’t want on your shoulder going down the back straight."
But Neville is not yet ready to rule Liverpool out of the title rival. Asked if they remain in contention, the former defender said: "I’m going to say yes. If it clicked something could happen.
"If they can pull it together with the manager who had a great first season and get something going with the younger players, maybe they can still do something.
"But today was a worry because it was a really, really poor performance. They need to have a good look at themselves and they’ll know they’re nowhere near it at this moment in time."
