Gary Neville has been speaking about Arsenal after their win over Southampton on Saturday.

Gary Neville has warned Arsenal that they cannot let up despite a strong start to the season, with little margin for error across the whole season. The Gunners came from behind to win 3-1 against Southampton on Saturday, remaining in the thick of the early season title charge.

Arsenal remain one point behind leaders Liverpool, but they are yet to lose this season, and they remain on the same points tally as Manchester City heading into the second international break. But while Mikel Arteta’s men have impressed so far, Neville has warned they cannot afford to suffer any sort of significant dip in form.

“I said before the game about Arsenal and City getting the job done today and they’ve got their jobs done,” Neville told NBC Sport. “But I think for City, other clubs will look at that and see that Fulham have scored twice.

“I said before the game that I wasn’t sure if City could win the league with [Mateo] Kovacic and he went and scored two goals, but they did look a bit open in midfield. Then on Arsenal, Russell Martin, Southampton’s manager, called them soft, lacking in fight and spirit… I think he’ll have probably changed his mind after today because they did put up a real show for large parts of that game. But Arsenal got there in the end and I think it’s an important one for them going into the international break.”

On the ultra-difficult title race, he added: “It’s mind-blowing to me. I think when [Jose] Mourinho came [to Chelsea] in the mid-2000s, he changed the game. We used to think that we could saunter along up to Christmas, January we’d be okay and then kicking on in February through to April and May, where we really had to hit our stride.

“Mourinho came in and then went so far in front, starting really quickly out of the blocks, and it got to the point whereby you can’t afford to go behind in terms of points before Christmas. I think that’s the same now with Pep Guardiola. If you think about Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and now Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, having to chase them all the time. You have to stay with them right from the very beginning.”