Gary Neville on The Overlap US
Gary Neville has predicted Manchester United will miss out on the top four as he backed Arsenal to pip Liverpool to the Premier League title.
The Sky Sports pundit initially backed his former team United to qualify for the Champions League in the summer before a disastrous spell that saw them make their worst start to a season under the recently-sacked Erik ten Hag.
United have shown signs of improvement under his successor Ruben Amorim but Neville still thinks they will miss out on a top four finish, claiming it's the first time he's predicted them to finish below fourth "in about 15 years".
He told the Overlap US: "Top four… I’ve not got full faith in Tottenham, Aston Villa and, to be fair, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and all the other teams that are in and around it.
"I think it will be City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal at this moment in time. It’s the first time I haven’t said United will be in the top four, I think, in about 15 years!"
He tipped Arsenal for the title in the summer and he's not backing down on that call, believing the Gunners will hit their stride in the mid point of the season and overtake Liverpool, despite Arne Slot's men topping the table for much of the campaign.
"I’m going to go with Arsenal [to win the title] on the basis that I think they’ll hit their form,’ he added. They’ve got a decent run of fixtures over Christmas, I think they’ll get within a couple of points, a few points, and I think they will hit their form in the new year and I do think they will win the league this season."
Arsenal play Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Brentford over the Christmas period, while Liverpool face games against Tottenham, Leicester and West Ham.
Neville's co-host Jamie Carragher agreed with him about United missing out on top four. The Red Devils are still in 13th place and six points off fourth-placed Nottingham Forest.
However, he backed his beloved Liverpool for the title. He said: "I’ll go for Liverpool [to finish as champions] and Chelsea second because they’ve got no Europe. So I’ll go with Chelsea, I’ll go with Arsenal and I’ll go with Manchester City."
For relegation, both pundits were in agreement on Southampton and Ipswich, but Carragher tipped Leicester for the drop, while Neville felt Wolves would go down.
Neville added: "I watched Wolves against Liverpool and, to be fair, Liverpool weren’t great in the game at all but they didn’t have to be and Wolves were absolutely awful and I thought, 'Oh no!'.
"So I think Wolves are probably gonna go, unless they can do something in the January transfer window."
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