Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have unveiled their predictions for the upcoming Premier League season, with both tipping Arsenal to successfully defend their title. The long-time rivals, now colleagues on punditry duty, shared their forecasts after analyzing Chelsea's recent victory.
Neville stated, "One hundred per cent Arsenal." He added, "They're way out in front and the squad they have assembled with the signings of [Ezri] Konsa, [Bruno] Guimaraes, [Christos] Tzolis and maybe one more - what a squad they have."
Top Four Contention
When it came to the race for the top four, the duo found themselves divided. Both included Manchester City and Chelsea in their selections, but differed on the remaining two spots. Neville backed his former club Manchester United to finish fourth, while Carragher opted for Liverpool.
Neville's predicted top four is Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United. Carragher's list places Manchester City as runners-up, followed by Chelsea, and then Liverpool in fourth.
Neville admitted his difficulty in separating Manchester United and Liverpool for fourth place. He noted the potential advantage for Chelsea due to their lack of European competition this season and suggested Manchester City might be in a stronger position than United. "At the moment I'm not convinced by United or Liverpool but I'm going for United fourth as I'm purely a fan," Neville conceded.
Carragher placed Manchester United fifth, while Neville predicted Liverpool to finish fifth.
Mid-Table and Relegation Battles
In their sixth-place predictions, Carragher chose Tottenham, with Brentford as his European contender. Neville predicted Brighton to finish sixth and Spurs as his European contender.
Neville expects all three promoted sides—Coventry City, Hull City, and Ipswich Town—to be relegated. Carragher, however, believes Coventry City will avoid the drop.
Carragher singled out Sunderland for relegation, citing their participation in European football as a potential hindrance to their domestic form. "They're going to be doing a lot of Thursday-Sunday," he explained. "I think Sunderland last season reminded me a little bit of Sheffield United under Chris Wilder when they came up and had a really brilliant and finished high up the table. But a lot of the games, like Sunderland last season, were won by the odd goal. When you look at their underlying numbers last season they were pretty close to relegation and I think with the European football it could be a problem for them."
Both pundits foresee Fulham facing a relegation battle, with Carragher also including Crystal Palace in that group.
Individual Accolades
For the top goalscorer award, both Neville and Carragher selected Manchester City's Erling Haaland.
Regarding the most impactful signing of the transfer window, both pundits highlighted players in north London. Carragher selected Tottenham's Mateus Fernandes, while Neville pointed to Arsenal's Bruno Guimaraes.
Neville was particularly effusive in his praise for Guimaraes, calling him "the best signing by a mile." He elaborated, "If you take an outfield player out of Arsenal's team there wasn't a massive drop off between the first and second team apart from Declan Rice. If Rice gets injured for three months that would be a risk to Arsenal but the signing of Guimaraes removes that. He is a massive personality and believes he can win every single match for his team. He's somebody you would want alongside you. For £75million that is value in this market."
For player to watch, Carragher chose Jeremy Jacquet, while Neville picked Morgan Rogers. Newcastle's manager Matthias Jaissle was Carragher's choice for manager to watch, with Xabi Alonso receiving the nod from Neville.