Gary Neville rules Chelsea and two other teams out of Premier League title race

Gary Neville has ruled three teams out of the Premier League title race after an intriguing opening weekend of the new season. 

Defending champions Liverpool began their title defence with a 4-2 win over Bournemouth and there were also wins for Arsenal and Manchester City. 

Arsenal ground out a 1-0 victory over an improved Manchester United while Man City put four past Wolves. 

Neville believes Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City will battle it out for the title and narrowly favours the Gunners after the performances on the opening weekend.

Given the strength of Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, Neville has already ruled Chelsea, Newcastle United and Aston Villa out of competing for the title. 

Club World Cup and Conference League winners Chelsea could only draw 0-0 with Crystal Palace in their Premier League opener, while it was also goalless in the Midlands between Villa and Newcastle. 

‘Between Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, all of them have got cases to win the Premier League,’ former England defender Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast. 

‘All equal cases as well, I don’t think you can look at any of the three and think they’re definitely above the others. 

‘I’m going on Monday Night Football tomorrow and will make a prediction and I’m probably going to go with Arsenal because I’ve gone with them the last three seasons! 

‘But honestly, Liverpool could easily win the league, especially if they get Alexander Isak, they could easily win the league by five or six points. 

‘We could be staring the obvious in the face with Man City signing [Tijjani] Reijnders and getting Rodri back. They’ve got the best striker in the league and probably the world [Erling Haaland] who scores 40 goals a season. 

‘We could look back in six months and be saying it was staring us in the face because City have got a treble-winning spine, they’ve got new players in who look outstanding and they’ve got the best forward in the league. 

‘Then you look at Arsenal and think the last two pieces of the jigsaw have been filled with [Viktor] Gyokeres and [Martin] Zubimendi. The defence looks outstanding, they look like a real team and they’re tough to beat. 

‘All three of those teams have got genuine cases. Liverpool may be slight favourites but I don’t think any club will be completely confident to win the league even though they all have a great chance. It’s really close I think.’ 

Asked whether he believed Chelsea, Newcastle or Aston Villa were capable of mounting title challenges, Neville added: ‘I’m not being dismissive but they just haven’t got that experience, that maturity, the title-winning feeling about them yet. 

‘Newcastle or Aston Villa are not going to win the league. Chelsea obviously won the Club World Cup and finished in the Champions League positions last season. 

‘When I look at them, they have a lot of good young players, but you’re not looking at [Joao] Pedro or [Liam] Delap in the same way you’re looking at Arsenal or Liverpool’s forwards, you’re just not. 

‘They’re good players and I think Chelsea will have a good season but I don’t look at them and see a title-winning spine. They’re not ready. That’s not just because of the results over the weekend. 

‘For me, I think Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City will be fighting it out for the title this season.’

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