Gary Neville offers Liverpool 'freak' advice after brutal Man City result

Liverpool suffered a late defeat against Manchester City, and Arne Slot's players now face a tough challenge to secure Champions League qualification this season

Gary Neville has made his feelings clear(Image: Getty Images)

Gary Neville has backed Liverpool to secure Champions League soccer for next season, but maintains Arne Slot must galvanise his players following their recent setback.

The Reds' top-four hopes took a hit after they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday in the Premier League. Despite Dominik Szoboszlai's spectacular free-kick giving them the lead, late goals from Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva condemned Slot's side to defeat in the Premier League encounter.

The outcome left Liverpool sitting in sixth place in the table ahead of a hectic midweek fixture list, with a journey to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland on Wednesday being the team's next challenge.

Liverpool can move within three points of Manchester United in fourth after the Red Devils and Chelsea both dropped points on Tuesday against West Ham and Leeds, respectively.

Neville explained what Liverpool must do to reverse the team's fortunes, starting with a win at Sunderland this week.

The former Manchester United defender also tipped the Reds to secure a top-four finish by the season's end.

Arne Slot is under pressure at Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

"That will be a tough take for Slot and his players," Neville said on his podcast for Sky Sports while discussing Liverpool's loss to Man City. "However, if they can somehow compartmentalize it to a bit of a freak game, which it was, they will still be fine.

"If they can put it in a box and not let it infect in here (points to his head), it is whether they are strong enough right now mentally to be able to cope with games every three days when challenging fixtures don't go their way.

"They are five points behind the top four or five. It's not a big gap; there is a long way to go and they will have to play most of the teams above them, so they have loads of opportunities.

"But there is a question mark over Liverpool. There is a question mark over whether they will finish in the Champions League places, but I still think they will."

Neville continued: "They have got a lot of experience with Alisson, (Alexis) Mac Allister, (Virgil) Van Dijk, (Mohamed) Salah, (Ryan) Gravenberch.

"They have players who know what to do, so can they hold it together and keep on going?

"If you want to show that you're not going to be impacted by today, go and win at Sunderland, which will be a tough place to go. Go and win there emphatically and be professional.

"That's where everyone needs to look now for Liverpool. It will be tough in there. The dressing room will be really low."