Former Manchester United great Gary Neville has had a change in his opinion on the Premier League’s top-four predictions, after Chelsea slumped to heavy 4-1 loss to Brighton and Liverpool were handed with a shock defeat at home by Leeds. Meanwhile, Manchester United continued their surge and collected all three points against West Ham in a 1-0 win as Marcus Rashford hit his century of goals for the Red Devils.
And Neville now feels the recent results could have a massive say in the top-four race, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, who came back from 2 goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2, all struggling. Elsewhere, Manchester City too failed to find their rhythm in attack against Leicester City without Erling Haaland as they scrapped past the Foxes with a 1-0 win. It were Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal who were the only ones from the ‘big-six’ to enjoy a comfortable win as they walked over Nottingham Forest 5-0.
Gary Neville tips Manchester United to push for top-four
Back in August, Gary Neville had slammed his former team from all the sides, rubbishing their hopes of returning to Champions League. United lost their first two league games of the season against Brighton and Brentford respectively, and had become a laughing stock under their new manager Erik ten Hag. Neville had said that time:
“I don’t think United with their current squad will finish fourth, but if they bring [Frenkie] De Jong and a striker in it’s a different story.”
Fast forward two months, United have leapfrogged Chelsea in the fifth place in the table and are a point behind Newcastle United who sit fourth. However, United have a game in hand over the Magpies and could topple the them as well to crack the top-four. Graham Potter’s Blues were thrashed by his former side Brighton at the AMEX Stadium, while Liverpool had a massive fall from grace as they lost at home against a relegation threatened Leeds and are now a staggering 15 points off the top of the table, and 8 adrift of the top-four.
Amidst the poor form of the Reds, and Chelsea too starting to have problems of their own under Potter, Gary Neville has urged his former side to go all the way and achieve an unprecedented top-four finish. Erik ten Hag’s side hasn’t lost a league game since that 6-3 hammering by City in the Manchester Derby, and with their rivals for the Champions League spots struggling, Neville feels they can sense a top-four finish here. The former left-back who was on punditry duties for Sky Sports at Man United vs West Ham said post match:
“I think they [Manchester United] have a great chance of finishing in the top four now. A great chance. I think there is enough around Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs that United will feel they can push through that bunch. I never would have thought that four or five weeks ago.
“Looking at United’s front players at the moment, Liverpool’s front-three, City’s front-three, Chelsea with [Raheem] Sterling and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, United have the weakest front players at this time. But they have something to be fair that is happening under Ten Hag that is giving them a great spirit.’
Certainly, Ten Hag has had a big impact on his team after that embarrassing City defeat. Since that game, United have won three league games including a win over Tottenham, and managed two draws, of which one was against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge. The Dutchman has been lauded by some for his handling of Cristiano Ronaldo who breached the his disciplinary rules in the win against Spurs by refusing to come-on as a sub and snub the gaffer’s post match talk for a second time this season.
Ronaldo was left out of the traveling squad for Chelsea, but made a return against Sheriff mid-week in the Europa League. He started against West Ham as well and Ten Hag has admitted he is happy with his forward’s performance and behaviour. United will now look to go into the next month’s World Cup break by winning two of their remaining league outings against Aston Villa and Fulham respectively to consolidate their top-four chances.