Gary Neville fires dig at Liverpool before Arsenal help to prove his point

Gary Neville's recent attack on Liverpool was reinforced when Arsenal secured a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The Manchester United legend claimed that four Arsenal players surpass Arne Slot's alternatives in identical positions. The Reds hoped to close the gap on their Premier League rivals ahead of their clash with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

Despite relishing in a five-point lead over Mikel Arteta's side weeks ago, the Reds trailed the Gunners by four points headed into the match. That was as a result to dropping points by enduring losses to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Manchester United in the three games leading up to their encounter with the Bees.

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Neville has consistently wore his heart on his sleeve when discussing Liverpool, and has frequently been left red-faced as a result of being proven wrong. However, that rarely stops him from voicing his opinion - something he did during a recent instalment of podcast.

Offering his assessment of Arsenal's qualities, Neville highlighted the Gunners' full-back alternatives and maintained they all eclipse Liverpool's present choices of Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong at right-back, plus Milos Kerkez and Andy Robertson on the left flank.

He said: "When I was watching Arsenal vs Atletico, I was watching [Myles] Lewis-Skelly. Obviously Jurrien Timber played, you've got Ben White and [Riccardo] Calafiori.

"I thought all Arsenal's full-backs are better than Liverpool's, all four of them - that's a big problem for Liverpool. Timber is the best full-back in the league at the moment."

He added: "I think Timber is almost, in my mind, I would class as being...do you know the guy that plays for Real Madrid? [Dani] Carvajal. For me, he's the best.

"And I think Timber's the nearest to him at the moment, I see, in terms of being able to do that bit and do that bit, do the forward bit well enough, but definitely cuts everything off down his side."

It appears as though Neville was proven right in his assessment, with Arsenal extending their lead over Liverpool in the Premier League standings this weekend.

The Reds suffered a 3-2 loss to Brentford in the capital, with Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago cancelling out efforts from Kerkez and Mohamed Salah.

Our colleagues over at the Echo also gave Bradley a six and Kerkez a lowly four in their player ratings as part of their post-match coverage.

Over in north London on Sunday, meanwhile, Eberechi Eze came back to haunt his own club by scoring the deciding goal of Arsenal's 1-0 win with a well-placed scissor kick ahead of half-time.

As a result of their respective matches, Arsenal still sit first in the Premier League standings, although they're now seven points clear of the defending champions - who languish in seventh.