Raheem Sterling winner against Arsenal "not offside", says Gary Neville

Gary Neville believes that Raheem Sterling's winner for Manchester City against Arsenal was correctly deemed onside by the officials at the Etihad.

The Gunners led 1-0 at the break in the Super Sunday clash, only to suffer a second straight Premier League defeat on the road as City hit back through strikes from Leroy Sane and Sterling.

However, Arsene Wenger was unhappy with City's goals, arguing they both should have been ruled out for offside, with Sterling's 71st-minute effort in particular causing much debate after the match due to the fact David Silva appeared to be interfering with play.

As Sterling strikes his shot from the right-hand edge of the area, his team-mate seems to be standing in Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech's line of sight, with the Czech Republic international later complaining: "There were players in front of the goal so I didn't see the shot and there were people running across.

"I don't know if one of them was David Silva or not but, as I said, I didn't see the ball because it was behind the players."

Studying the footage on Monday Night Football, Neville has delivered his own verdict on the incident and the Sky Sports pundit is adamant the goal should have stood.

"The Sterling goal is interesting and is David Silva offside and interfering with play?" Neville said. "We have a virtual reality to help people in terms of the actual view of it and obviously he is stood in an offside position. That is a fact, Silva is beyond the last line of the Arsenal defenders.

"And then it comes into the subtleties and nuances of the rule and is Silva interfering with Petr Cech? I do not think it is, Sterling is just about to pull the trigger and the players that are causing Cech the problems here is not Silva, they are his own defenders [Nacho] Monreal and [Laurent] Koscielny.

"So I think at that particular phase, I would say the assistant referee is right to not put his flag up.

"You then move it on to the next phase when Silva sticks his leg out, or makes a half attempt and I think this is interesting as the ball has already been kicked towards the near post.

"And honestly, I do not think that with that ball being four or five yards away from Silva, with the ball going towards the near post, any deflection that Silva would get, would also be going that way as well, Cech for me was blindsided by his own players and that is why he did not move until the ball had gone past him.

"And I just think the assistant referee got it right in terms of that second occasion, I do not think it was an offside, I think it was debatable in the sense that Silva does stick a leg out, he seems to be more playing with it rather than really making an attempt to play the ball.

"And the ball is in the back of the net because I think he is blocked by Monreal and Koscielny. And it is past him even before he can react."