Gary Neville makes so many awful Liverpool predictions that it's hard to keep up. But he's not being allowed to forget one particularly bad take, with his humiliation now almost complete.
Fortunately, I took the pre-season advice of Jamie Carragher. He told everyone to bookmark Neville's prediction — so I did.
Ultimately, that might not have been necessary, because the way the Premier League season has panned out means that everyone remembers exactly what Neville said. Even at the time, his respective predictions for Liverpool and Manchester United looked audacious, but the last several months have made him look utterly silly.
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For the benefit of the few who may need a recap, Neville — as always — predicted that Manchester United would finish above Liverpool. Albeit with a somewhat defeated tone, he even stuck to that assessment after Arne Slot marched into Old Trafford in September and won 3-0.
But it gets even worse. Not only did Neville predict that Man United would prevail, he thought that his old team would make it into the top four.
Where did he place Liverpool? Outside the top six, in what he dubbed the "surprise of the season".
"It's hard to imagine Liverpool falling outside the top six, but even harder to see how Manchester United gets in the top four," I wrote at the time, before a ball had been kicked. "It is carrying on with the exact same formula as last season, and after picking up more than its fair share of lucky wins in 2023/24, eighth seems like one of the better scenarios it could hope to achieve."
I don't know why Neville makes this predicting lark look so difficult. The one thing I got wrong is that a change might help Manchester United, with the appointment of Ruben Amorim actually making things even worse so far.
But why am I revisiting this now? It's because Liverpool reached a significant milestone with its win over Newcastle United.
Despite Manchester United's best efforts, a stirring 3-2 win from behind against the mighty Ipswich Town, Amorim's side is now mathematically unable to finish above Liverpool. It's still February, but Slot has already made one big part of Neville's prediction redundant.
An improbable perfect run between now and the end of the campaign would bring Man United to 66 points. Liverpool is already on 67 — enough to guarantee at least 12th, with eight teams unable to catch up.
It shouldn't be too long before the top six is officially confirmed for Liverpool either, and confirmation of Man United's inability to reach the top four is surely a matter of weeks away. It will have to wait longer than that to be mathematically clear of relegation.
At this point, Neville's humiliation will be complete, with every asepct of his Liverpool and Manchester United prediction proved hopelessly wrong. Let's hope he's tipping a big win for PSG next week.
