Gary Neville believes that Manchester United could finish above Liverpool this season, given United’s success in October and Liverpool’s winless streak last month.
Manchester United head into the November international break in joint fifth place with 18 points, just four behind second-placed rivals Manchester City.
Under Rúben Amorim, the team has shown major improvement since the end of last season, helped by a productive summer transfer window that reshaped United’s attack and brought in a new first-choice goalkeeper, Senne Lammens.
Although Benjamin Šeško is still finding his feet in the Premier League, the more experienced signings, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, have impressed. Mbeumo has been especially outstanding since joining from Brentford, scoring five league goals and earning the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for October.
While United thrived in October, for Liverpool, it was the polar opposite. Arne Slot’s men went winless in the league last month, which included a 2-1 loss to their bitter Manchester rivals.
Gary Neville’s bold claim
At the start of the season, no one would have thought that United could finish above Liverpool after smashing the league’s transfer record twice to bring in Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. Both sides, however, currently sit level on points with 18 points each.
Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, United legend Gary Neville believes that his former club could finish above Liverpool this season.
“It’s been a good month for United. They started this month by beating Liverpool and got eight points out of their last four Premier League games.
“Liverpool away, Nottingham Forest away, Brighton at home and Tottenham away. It’s a great result.
“But because they got six points in the first two games, there’s an element of thinking: ‘well, if they just got another two or three points, they’d be right up there in second’.”
United could secure a top-four finish
Neville also went on to say that United could, and perhaps should be pushing for a top-four finish and qualify for the Champions League, thanks to their lack of European football this season.
“United should really be thinking that if they can get it right, Tottenham as well, but it’s tougher for them with European games. They should be thinking around [the] top four, they really should, because there’s no one grabbing it at this moment.
“You look at Chelsea, Tottenham, who don’t look sure, Liverpool don’t look sure. It’s there for the taking. It’s about consistency.”
“After this international break, you’ve got two or three months of lots of games, the winter slog.
“It’ll sort the teams out, and you come out of January and see where really everybody is. But there’s a good opportunity for United.
“Bournemouth have lost this weekend, Forest have picked up a win, it’s starting to equalise itself out. It’s starting to work itself out.”
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