Gary Neville reveals Arsenal vs Chelsea prediction and makes ‘ultimate test’ claim – ‘Arsenal will realise’

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has sent a warning to Arsenal but has backed them to beat Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.

The biggest Premier League game of the 2026/27 campaign *so far* takes place on Sunday at the Emirates, with defending champions Arsenal hosting Chelsea.

The Gunners are being widely backed to retain the Premier League title this season, but Chelsea are being tipped to potentially be their biggest challengers.

After a dire 2025/26 campaign, Chelsea look to be an entirely different prospect under Xabi Alonso this season, and Neville thinks Arsenal “will realise” that they have to be “alert and alive” this weekend for one reason.

Despite this, he has explained why he still thinks Arsenal should get the better of Chelsea.

“I think Arsenal will realise Chelsea have better attacking players than Aston Villa so they’ll have to be alert and alive,” Neville said on The Overlap.

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“But I think Villa are the most organised team in the league except for Arsenal, I think they’re really well organised and so well drilled by Unai Emery. Chelsea aren’t as well organised as that and they aren’t as disciplined.

“THat’s what makes it really interesting…”

“They won’t defend in the same way as Villa so I think Arsenal may actually fancy their chances going forward more against Chelsea, but they’ll also have to be alert to the fact Chelsea have some fantastic attacking players.

“That’s what makes it really interesting. I think Arsenal will win the game but it’s a really good test for them and a really good moment to see Chelsea in the early days of Xabi Alonso.

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“They’ve been so exciting in their first two games but this is the ultimate test for them against the champions who don’t make a lot of mistakes.

“I can’t wait for it, I think it will be a really good game. And I think Arsenal will be really looking forward to it. It will show us a lot of where Arsenal and Chelsea are because I’ve put them as first and second.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s match, Neville has backed Arsenal to beat Chelsea and has predicted the scoreline.

Neville added: “We’ll go 2-0 to Arsenal. I think Arsenal are going to be so up for it and strong, they are going to be really aggressive.”

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