Gary Neville has admitted being ‘staggered’ over Arsenal’s travel decision to Manchester just three hours before kick-off against City on Wednesday night.

News highlights:

• Neuville criticise Arsenal’s travel plans against Man City after traveling 3 hours to the game on Wednesday night.

• Arsenal lost the game 3-0 to Manchester City

Mikel Arteta’s squad enjoyed a pre-match meal at Stansted Airport before flying up north just after 5pm in horrific weather conditions to take on Pep Guardiola’s side.

Their match at the Etihad Stadium kicked off at 8:15pm and was a sodden affair thanks to dreadful stormy conditions around Manchester all evening.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ commentary with Martin Tyler, Neville admitted he could not believe the decision was taken to fly so close to kick off.

He said: ‘I was staggered when I heard their travel plans, I’ve got to be honest.

‘A plane three hours before kick-off, I was thinking more the risk of the weather we’ve got at the moment, the storm.’

Neville also speculated that flying at that time could have caused physical issues with the players after the Gunners lost both Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari to injury inside the first 20 minutes.

Manchester City won 3-0 with Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling on target as David Luiz is sent off with his blunders leading to two goals

He added: ‘Obviously I don’t think it’s ideal to get fly on a plane three hours before kick-off.
‘It was the time of the travel that I was most alarmed about, so close to kick off.’

Flight records show Arsenal’s plane took off from Stansted at 5.03pm and landed in Manchester at 5.38pm.
Their plane, an Avro RJ85 which seats up to 112 people, then moved to Liverpool John Lennon Airport between 6.39pm and 6.54pm.

Arteta’s side travelled to Merseyside to catch their flight home, taking off at 12.54am on Thursday morning and landing back at Stansted at 1.31am.