Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher issue title race predictions as Liverpool doubts raised

It should come as no surprise that Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have different opinions about who will win the Premier League this year.

While Manchester City and Arsenal responded with away wins over Wolves (4-0) and Manchester United (1-0), respectively, Liverpool got their championship defense off to a strong start on Friday night by defeating Bournemouth 4-2.

The resident Sky Sports pundits were invited to make predictions for 2025–2026 on the inaugural Monday Night Football of the new season, but they couldn’t agree on who would win the championship in the end.

Neville and Carragher forecast the title race.

“Arsenal has been consistent over the last three years, they’ve been second,” Neville said, expressing his belief that Mikel Arteta’s club will ultimately cross the finish line. They will eventually arrive, in my opinion.

“I understood Carra’s reasoning when I saw Liverpool on Friday night. The two full-backs need to get comfortable. They appear somewhat exposed. It will be thrilling to watch them. They will score numerous goals.

“I couldn’t decide between them, so I chose the side I’ve supported for the past three years. They are sturdy, dependable, and constant, which is crucial. They routinely finish second to elite teams like Liverpool and Manchester City and have high point totals.

Arsenal has the appropriate resources. They only need to work on the front portion of the field, which I believe Viktor Gyokeres will do.

But even though he has some reservations about the Reds, Carragher has faith in his old team to win the championship again, saying: “What I saw in the Community Shield, I didn’t think I’d see on Friday night.” I was a little concerned about that.

“I’m sure the manager has been talking to the players during preseason after the Milan match and the Community Shield, so seeing it in the three high-profile games thus far worried me a little bit. However, Liverpool has a lot of firepower if they can fix that.”

Neville was obviously not going to choose Liverpool!

When choosing this term’s winner, Neville acknowledged that he had a hard time choosing between the top three from the previous season, but it doesn’t surprise us that he couldn’t bring himself to pick Arne Slot’s team to win back-to-back!

His and Carragher’s concerns, however, are justified given Liverpool’s recent defensive lapses, as the Reds have already given up as many goals in their first league game of 2025–26 as they did in their first seven Premier League games of 2024–2025.

However, it would take a consistently top-tier squad to unseat the champions by May of next year if they could address that problem (the return of Ryan Gravenberch in midfield should assist) and maintain their strength up front with their formidable offense.

When the Merseysiders host Arsenal at Anfield at the end of August, they have an opportunity to set an early marker in the title fight. However, before then, they have a fierce Monday night trip to Newcastle, which will be made even more intense by the Alexander Isak transfer story.

Liverpool may send a terrifying message to the rest of the Premier League that they could be stopped this season if they win those games with the most points possible!

 

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