‘Prove me wrong’ – Liverpool low-key did something last night to complete Gary Neville humbling | OneFootball

Gary Neville must wish he could go back in time and retract one pre-season prediction in particular!

Rewind back to August and the first Monday Night Football of the campaign, and the Sky Sports pundit backed his former club Manchester United to finish third in 2024/25, two places ahead of Liverpool.

What did Neville say about Liverpool in August?

He said at the time (via Footbal365): “I really do question that [LFC’s] midfield is going to stand up throughout the season, and if it does again I take my hat off to them. Well done. Unbelievable. Prove me wrong. I think Manchester United have got more in midfield.”

The 50-year-old has gradually revised his opinion about the Reds as the season progressed. In November he admitted that Arne Slot’s side would end up in the top four but insisted that he wasn’t watching ‘a champion team’, believing that they were still inferior to Manchester City and Arsenal.

After LFC won at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to go 11 points clear at the top of the table, Neville conceded that Liverpool had effectively claimed the Premier League title, and his humbling officially became complete after Wednesday night’s results.

Although Man United battled back to defeat Ipswich 3-2 at Old Trafford, their northwestern rivals extended thei lead at the summit to 13 points by beating Newcastle 2-0 at Anfield, with fans jubilantly greeting news of Arsenal slipping up once again at Nottingham Forest.

(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Liverpool now guaranteed to finish above Man United as Neville humbled

It leaves a gap of 34 points between the teams in first and 14th, and with the Red Devils having just 11 more Premier League matches this season, it’s already become mathematically impossible for them to finish ahead of the Merseysiders…and February hasn’t even ended yet.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course, and in August not even the most upbeat of Liverpool fans would realistically have expected us to enjoy a 13-point lead this deep into the campaign.

However, it wasn’t as if the northwestern rivals were on a par with one another last summer, with the Reds ending 2023/24 five places and 22 points ahead of Man United, so for Neville to expect that chasm to be overturned in the space of 12 months still seemed outlandish at the time.

This’ll also be the fifth time in the last seven years that LFC will look down at the Old Trafford outfit in the final Premier League table, confirmation if any was needed as to which of the two clubs now holds the balance of power.

For a generation of Liverpool supporters whose childhood was spent watching on enviously as Sir Alex Ferguson guided the Red Devils to one top-flight triumph after another – for most of which the Reds even competing – these are times to be treasured.

Seven more wins in our final 10 games guarantees league title number 20 – bring it home, LFC!