Jamie Carragher has a few wishes for the next 12 months – and one of them is that Gary Neville finally changes his annual predictions about Manchester United.
Jamie Carragher has quipped that one of his hopes for 2026 is that Gary Neville will stop predicting Manchester United will finish in the top four, but he doesn’t have high hopes.
Sky Sports’ two pundits, both on the air and overlapping, often have to give their predictions before a season kicks off. Neville has a long-standing association with the Manchester team and will forever be rooting for Manchester to finish in the top four. This is despite the team having struggled several times over the past few seasons. He included them in Carragher’s top four options without much thought, and Neville himself laughs at the fact that he would not stray from such a prediction.
The former Liverpool defender has listed some hopes for next year, including another trophy with the Reds and success for his son at Wigan, but he also wishes Neville would stop constantly predicting United.
He told the Telegraph: “Wigan Athletic win promotion from League One to the Championship, Liverpool win the Champions League and Gary Neville stops predicting Manchester United finishing in the top four. At least two of those three could come true.”
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United have failed to finish in the top four in three of the last four seasons. Their only success came in Erik ten Hag’s first year when the Red Devils finished third. Since then, they have remained in eighth place, finishing last year in 15th place, their lowest ever in the Premier League era.
Ruben Amorim’s side have had an inconsistent start to the year, but Neville has reiterated his position in recent months that United could break into the top four. It came after the Merseyside side and some of their rivals had been out of form, beating Liverpool at Anfield.
He said: “United should really be thinking if they can do well – Tottenham too, but it’s even tougher for teams in the European game – they should be thinking around the top four because nobody has it at the moment. If you look at Chelsea and Tottenham, they don’t seem to be sure, but Liverpool don’t seem to be sure either… It’s about getting them. The key is consistency.”
United currently sit in 6th place, three points behind fourth-placed Liverpool. Neville has lamented several missed chances in recent weeks, with Bournemouth and Wolves both leaving Old Trafford with one point.
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