Jamie Carragher makes Mikel Arteta jibe as he argues with Gary Neville over predictions

Mikel Arteta landed in the firing line of Jamie Carragher as he argued with Gary Neville over who was coming out on top in their prediction battle.

The Sky Sports duo appeared on the broadcaster's YouTube channel to discuss their previous forecasts for the Premier League winners over the last few years.

As Neville argued that he was leading Carragher in the race, the ex-Liverpool legend fired back to an unusual point Arteta made at the start of the 2025/26 campaign.

When asked if he could catch up to his broadcasting counterpart, Carragher said: "But I've actually got more points over that time, and have you heard Mikel Arteta of late? Mikel Arteta is right.

"He's got more points than anyone over the last three seasons. And I've got more points over him over the last five seasons."

The pair erupted into laughter as Neville added: "He's won the combined, because there's a Super Cup you win for combined points over three seasons," and Carragher replied: "So I'm with you, Mikel."

The ex-Liverpool defender's jibe was a response to a comment made by the Arsenal boss in a press conference ahead of the new Premier League campaign. At the time, the Spaniard said: "Yeah, you keep digging, digging, digging and you have to be digging because one day the gold is going to be there. That's all the time. When I've been taught, when I've been educated and that's it.

"For three seasons we've had more points than any other team in this league, which is incredible. That's how you have all the consistency.

"Now we have to do it in a season to have one more point or the same amount of points and more goals different than any other team. That's the objective."

While Arteta's comment on the points tally is relatively amusing and unusual, it isn't technically true either. Despite finishing above Manchester City last year, Pep Guardiola's team have still accummulated the most points in the last three league campaigns, with 251.

Second-placed Arsenal have 247 total points from the last three seasons, and Liverpool have a combined 233. During the same discussion, Neville backed the Gunners once again, believing the team will eventually "get it over the line".

Neville said: "I've got to stick with Arsenal because I've felt they were going to win it for the last three years. I felt they're going to get it over the line, and it would be wrong of me to change now and I can't split the three of them to be fair."

Carragher stuck with his former club, who pipped Arsenal by 10 points last campaign, despite having some nerves about the start of their year. He said: "I'm going to go for Liverpool but I do think I agree with you in that I think all three of them - anything could happen.

"I was a little bit unnerved by what I saw from Liverpool in the first game and there might be a case of, I think there's got to be a little bit of rejigging going on in terms of how we set the team up. It's still early days and you obviously back [Arne] Slot to find a way to make that work."

Of course, Arteta is backing his own team to finally get the bad luck off their back and clinch that much-sought-after crown. Discussing the mood at the Emirates Stadium, he added: "The mood of the place, the energy around it, the enthusiasm that the boys, the staff came with from day one, now we're going to do better, to keep improving as a team and to win.

"That's what drives my energy and that's why I'm so excited."

Story Saved

You can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.