Gary Neville feels that if Virgil van Dijk was fit, Liverpool would have easily claimed the Premier League title. But now his injuries have brought hope to Chelsea, Tottenham, and Manchester United.
After defeating Wolves 4-0 at Anfield, the Reds advanced level on points with Spurs at the top of the Premier League table. This season, Liverpool had a rough hand with injuries, with both Van Dijk and Joe Gomez returning from long injury lay-offs.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker have both spent spans on the sidelines, but the former returned to offer a timely boost from injury against Wolves.
Having claimed 196 Premier League points in their last two seasons, Neville claims that this time around, Liverpool and Manchester City are marginally behind the same standard, with injuries hampering the Reds particularly.
He claims the men of Jurgen Klopp will claim the title again but acknowledges that the injury of Van Dijk left the Reds’ rivals asking whether this time around they could pip them to the crown.
Gary said, “Losing Van Dijk, I think Liverpool win this league at a canter if Van Dijk is fit. I really do, nobody can get near them. I still think Liverpool will win the league but there are little things going against them that haven’t in the last couple of seasons. The same for Manchester City and that makes it interesting. Chelsea and Tottenham are looking at them thinking ‘hmm, they’re not right and we’re okay here, we’re starting to hit form, we’re getting closer to them’ and I think that is giving confidence to them. Even Manchester United, Manchester United players will be sat thinking ‘we could have a chance if we play like we could’ as daft as that sounds because I don’t think they will win the league. That’s what this season is doing to us because the top two have set a bar that we’ve never seen before and now we are starting to see something more normal.”
