Neville: 'Sloppy' City are handing Arsenal the advantage

Gary Neville believes Manchester City's sloppy finishing and vulnerable defence have handed the impetus back to Arsenal in the title race.

After beating the Gunners 3-1 at the Emirates last Wednesday, Pep Guardiola's Premier League champions dropped two precious points at Nottingham Forest three days later when they could only muster a 1-1 draw. 

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta's men bounced back from that body blow at home by recording a dramatic 4-2 win at Aston Villa to return to the top of the table. 

And Manchester United legend Neville, 48, is leaning towards the North Londoners getting their hands on the trophy come May. 

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, he said: "We've got an intriguing title race. Arsenal needed a good weekend. They've conceded 10 goals in the last six games. 

"They need to stop conceding goals. One of the traits of a run-in is that if you're conceding goals and teams feel they have a chance, it's very difficult to win a league. They just need to watch that.

"They can go five points clear again if they win their game in hand. Thomas Partey not playing is a miss but they just need to think about getting back to clean sheets in this next period.

"But for City, they're still giving Arsenal a big chance because they're not playing at their best. They're sloppy in front of goal and they still look vulnerable themselves at the back.

"There is such a long way to go and it will twist back and forward. 

"I watched the highlights of the City game against Forest and they missed chance after chance and were sloppy in front of goal."

Neville has also questioned Guardiola's decision to deploy playmaker Bernardo Silva as a makeshift defender. 

He added: "I still can't get my head around Silva in a left-back position. 

"I think you'll concede goals there potentially if that continues to happen and Guardiola is taking a risk if he has him there. 

"When they went ahead against Arsenal and started to look comfortable was when they went to a proper back four."

Leaders Arsenal travel to Leicester on Saturday while City are at Bournemouth in the evening kick-off.