Gary Neville risks looking foolish as bold Liverpool prediction made

Liverpool was held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham on Sunday, with both Chelsea and Manchester United firing managers after also dropping Premier League points at the weekend

Gary Neville has offered his opinion(Image: Getty Images)

Liverpool squandered the chance to solidify its position in the top four for the second consecutive gameweek, settling for a 2-2 draw against Fulham on Sunday.

Cody Gakpo seemed set to clinch a last-minute victory for the Reds, but Harrison Reed's 97th-minute thunderbolt ensured the points were shared. Despite the deadlock, Arne Slot's team remains fourth in the Premier League table, maintaining a three-point lead over both Chelsea and Manchester United, who sit fifth and sixth respectively.

However, Liverpool could have widened the gap, as both the Londoners and the Red Devils also dropped points. Chelsea managed to scrape a 1-1 draw away at Manchester City with a late equalizer, while United drew 1-1 away at Leeds earlier in the day.

The previous gameweek told a similar tale when Liverpool was held to a goalless draw at home by Leeds. A win would have given the Reds a more comfortable lead over their rivals, especially after Chelsea's 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth and Manchester United's 1-1 stalemate with struggling Wolves.

Amid escalating tensions between management and club hierarchy at both Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford, both clubs have now fired managers in the early days of 2026. Enzo Maresca was shown the door by Chelsea on New Year's Day, with Ruben Amorim receiving the same fate from United on Monday.

Liam Rosenior is tipped to take the reins at Chelsea, while United legend Darren Fletcher has stepped in temporarily after Amorim's departure from Old Trafford. Both Chelsea and United will be hoping that a change at the helm can bring about a more fruitful second half of the season. This should put Liverpool on alert.

Ruben Amorim has left Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)

After a disappointing run of nine losses in 12 matches, Slot found his position increasingly under scrutiny. However, a streak of nine games without defeat, despite four draws, has silenced any doubts about his future. Still, Liverpool has not been firing on all cylinders.

Indeed, United legend Gary Neville expressed his view following the draw with Fulham that while he expects the Reds to secure a spot in next season's Champions League, he doesn't foresee them embarking on a remarkable run in the second half of the campaign.

“The amount of times from me walking to a gantry and Liverpool score late on is unbelievable in this last couple of years,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. “It’s a bit of a dig when Liverpool win late on then, all of the sudden, they throw on our screens the Harrison Reed goal that is absolutely... wow, what a goal that is.

“Alisson is the absolute best; I haven’t got anything negative to say about him as a goalkeeper. To beat him from there takes some doing, and it was a special strike. It would have gutted Liverpool. They are not at their best; they are conceding goals still and are not quite right at the front.

“Liverpool look like they are going to finish in the Champions League places, partly because they are good enough to but partly because there are teams around them that are not good enough to knock them out. That’s going to be the reality of Liverpool.

“They have got enough good players up top, (Mohamed) Salah is going to come back. They are going to get there in terms of the Champions League, but are nowhere near at the levels of last season. But they are not going to shock us and go on a great run in the second half of last season because they’re still making quite a lot of errors and mistakes.”

Following the departures of Maresca and Amorim, both Chelsea and United will be eager to prove Neville wrong. While Liverpool may not be on a nine-game unbeaten streak ahead of Thursday's clash with league leaders Arsenal, such managerial shake-ups - and the potential for a new manager bounce - underscore the need for progress at Anfield.

The Reds might currently hold a three-point lead in the top four despite a poor first half of the season, but that doesn't mean they can rest on their laurels. Liverpool's hierarchy might have stood by Slot even when results weren't going the Reds' way, with the relationship between them as robust as ever.

However, with Chelsea and United both choosing to gamble rather than stick with their managers, with off-field tensions ultimately sealing the fate of Maresca and Amorim, only time will tell if these changes yield dividends.