‘Wow’ – Gary Neville ‘mesmerised’ by what he saw on social media regarding Liverpool’s title hopes
A cursory scroll through social media earlier this week left Gary Neville stunned by one thing he read regarding Liverpool’s chances of winning the Premier League this season.
The Reds have taken full advantage of recent slip-ups from Manchester City and Arsenal to establish a five-point lead at the top of the table for the November international break, with 11 of the 38 matchdays having been played, and Steve Nicol is among the pundits who now thinks they can go the distance in 2024/25.
On Monday night, Sky Sports’ Instagram feed posted an image featuring the latest Opta-calculated probability of those three teams going on to win the title. Arne Slot’s team were well out in front on 60.32%, with Pep Guardiola’s side rated at 34.29% and the Gunners a mere 4.98%.
Neville left shocked by Opta figures
Speaking on The Overlap, Neville voiced his astonishment at seeing those particular figures and suggested that Arsenal’s current nine-point deficit at this juncture isn’t as irretrievable as what it might’ve been in previous years.
The ex-Manchester United defender said: “Last night I got stopped in my tracks because I was on Instagram and I saw Sky Sports post out a title probability percentage. It blew my mind actually. I was mesmerised.
“Liverpool 60% most likely to win the title, City 34% chance of winning the title, Arsenal 4.9% chance. I was like, ‘there is no way those title odds are right’.
“Arsenal at 4% and Liverpool at 60%? I just don’t feel that probability is right at this moment in time. I know it’s been different in the last few years but that’s because of Pep. We’re not talking about a Pep season here.
“I just feel, 15 or 20 years ago, we’d have been saying ‘Just chill out, everyone!’. Everyone’s writing Arsenal off, saying they’ve got a must-win game and City are out of it. I just thought ‘wow’.
“Then, another stat I saw this morning – only five teams have ever been this far in front at this stage of the season, and they’ve all won the league.”
Liverpool’s fate is in their own hands
By building a five-point buffer between themselves and Man City, Liverpool have given themselves scope to incur one slip-up and still preserve the destiny of the title race in their own hands. The Reds will inevitably drop points on a few more occasions this season, but the same could be said of the teams hunting them down.
The visit of Guardiola’s side to Anfield on 1 December feels as though it could significantly swing the momentum in favour of whoever wins that match, if there’s a decisive result on the day.
Neville’s stat about every other team in the Premier League era who’s been in as dominant a position as we are now going on to win the title may offer substantial encouragement to LFC fans, who’ll recall how we were one of that quintet in 2019/20 and eventually cruised to glory.
Liverpool supporters who’ve grown accustomed to Man City hitting the turbo post-Christmas won’t be getting ahead of themselves yet, but at least Slot’s team are in control of their own destiny and possess the capability to make their current position even stronger.
If that 60% probability figure were to increase by the end of 2024…that’s when belief might well and truly surge through the fanbase!
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