Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville disagree on Liverpool's Champions League chances

Liverpool faces an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League after winning just six of its last 20 top-flight games to drop down to sixth in the standings

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville had their say on Liverpool's Champions League qualification hopes(Image: 2025 Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA)

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have differing opinions on Liverpool's chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League.

The Reds' defeat by Manchester City on Sunday leaves them four points adrift of fifth-placed Chelsea, and five points behind fourth-placed Manchester United. Arne Slot's men have won just six of their last 20 games in the top-flight, and Carragher believes that the team's form is not good enough to suggest that Champions League qualification is likely.

“No. Right now I don’t [think Liverpool will qualify for the Champions League]," Carragher said on Sky Sports. "They would have to have a huge upturn in form. And the ones above them are in great form.

“It (the loss to Manchester City) is a bad one. When you look at the league for Liverpool, it looks like a long way to get into the top five Champions League positions. There’s a gap now. You can make that up, but Liverpool will have to do well in the two cup competitions to save the season."

Contrastingly, Gary Neville thinks there was enough good about Liverpool's performance against City to suggest that the team could still finish inside the top five.

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

Carragher is worried about Liverpool's form(Image: Getty Images)

"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.

"What they have to do is box that up very quickly and chuck it in a corner and forget about it. Not good enough first half, but they kept a clean sheet. Second half, dominated and got the goal and should have seen it home.

"The two goals they conceded... the second one is not like Alisson. He's a great goalkeeper and he usually reads situations really well. For him to clatter through and hit the player, that is not like him.

"The first one is just a flick-on. It's innocuous, really. Szoboszlai was a little bit deeper, but it can happen. Some will say it is happening far too often and something's wrong, but I think they just need to try and compose themselves if they can.

"They have got a lot of experience with Alisson, Mac Allister, Van Dijk, Salah, 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."