Gary Neville has explained why he thinks Liverpool will be ‘confident’ of finishing in the Premier League’s top four this season.
The Reds got back to winning ways on Monday night with a 2-0 win over Everton in the Merseyside derby. Goals from Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo secured the victory, which was a first for Liverpool in the top flight since December.
Liverpool are now in ninth place in the league table, and nine points adrift of the top four places with a game in hand. Next up for the Reds is an away trip to fourth-placed Newcastle United on Saturday.
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Neville, speaking after Liverpool’s win over Everton, believes that the Reds will be confident of securing a top four finish this season. The pundit went on to say why he thinks the return to key players will make if a “completely different story”.
“Everyone’s talked about the form and the poor defending, but they have missed players [through injury],” Neville told Sky Sports.
“You put Van Dijk back in that team, you put Jota on the bench. Along with Diaz coming back potentially as well, and Firmino, it’s a completely different story.
“And all of a sudden, when you look at that league table, it doesn’t look like they’re out of the reckoning for the top four, and I never thought they were.
“I think Newcastle at this moment in time are having a little bit of a blip, they’ve only won one in six.
“If Liverpool were to win on Saturday in that game against Newcastle, they would be in a very strong position. I think Liverpool would be very confident, and difficult to stop.”
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