‘Don’t panic!’ Gary Neville reveals advice for Arsenal as Premier League title hopefuls have lead at the top cut by Aston Villa loss

Arsenal fell to a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday as Emiliano Buendia's late winner saw the Gunners crash to just their second league defeat of the season. The result at Villa Park means the north London side have now won only two of their last five league matches following draws with Sunderland and Chelsea and wins over London pair Tottenham and Brentford.

However, the downturn in form has been capitalised upon by City, who are now just two points behind Arsenal following Saturday's action. Goals from Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden saw City claim a 3-0 home triumph over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium as the Cityzens powered their way to a third successive league victory.

And despite City's recent upturn in results, Neville says he "wouldn't be panicking" if he was Arsenal even as City breathe down their necks at the top of the table.

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, the former England and Manchester United right-back said of the Villa loss: "That's a game you can lose. I wouldn't be panicking at all if I was Arsenal off the back of that. You're going to lose a game or two, you just are, and you're going to win a lot of games.

"They could sit there and think that Manchester City are a couple of points off them but they've had a tough week, Arsenal. You could argue it's been Arsenal's toughest week of the season [facing Chelsea away, Brentford home, Villa away].

"They'll realise that Manchester City have got those types of weeks coming at points in the season as well. I don't think it's a time to panic but they're certainly going to feel that breath on the neck of Manchester City and Pep Guardiola and I think City will think, 'If we can stay this close until April, May, let's see what they're made of'.

"That's what Manchester City have to do, they have to hang in there and sit on their shoulder and see what they're about and see what they're made of and see what they're like in a real title race again."

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Neville also noted City's own vulnerabilities and believes that the team that can hold their nerve over the festive period will put themselves in the best position to go the distance. "Man City give you a chance. The teams of Manchester City that won the league all those years on the run didn't give you much of a chance at all," Neville added.

"[But now] every time I've watched them I think, 'yeah you've got a chance of scoring goals [against them]. They'll get a bloody nose from a time or two. But Arsenal are going to have to be reliable and consistent as they have been in the first part of the season to win the league.

"This is the season of inconsistency. Everybody's all over the place. We've seen it with Liverpool, Chelsea [against Leeds], Manchester United on Thursday… The teams that you would have expected to be in around the top six - Tottenham - they're all over the place. Villa were down at the bottom couple of months ago now they've risen. So everything's really strange.

"Christmas is an important period. There's loads of points to play for. Massive month, December, with more Premier League games than ordinarily in any other month. City should be encouraged but I still think that Arsenal are favourites - but not as much as I did maybe a week or so ago!"

Both Arsenal and City are in European action in midweek as the pair look to follow up contrasting weekend results with another three points in the Champions League. The Gunners travel to Belgian giants Club Brugge on Wednesday night, while the Cityzens face La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid.

And Arsenal are next in league action against winless Wolves next Saturday as they seek to get their title push back on track. Pep Guardiola's side, meanwhile travel to Crystal Palace next weekend as they aim to keep the pressure on the north London side.