Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has ruled out the possibility of Liverpool winning the title this campaign. However, he has stated that Brendan Rodgers’ team are capable of challenging for the top four places, which is something that they have not done since 2009. Neville is currently working as a pundit for Sky Sports and he has been known for his nonbiased opinions. He has said that one of the major reasons behind Liverpool’s good form this campaign has been their lack of European football.

Liverpool have not qualified for the Champions League in the last four years, but they are also without the Europa league this campaign. This has allowed them to prepare for matches extremely well, while the form of Daniel Sturridge and Luiz Suarez has also been impressive. The duo have been regarded as the best partnership Liverpool have had since Rush and Kenny Dalglish.

Due to the lack of midweek matches, Neville things that Liverpool will be able to challenge for a top four spot. He says that this is the natural progression of the team, who have been finishing in the eighth and seventh places for the last few seasons.

“Liverpool are certainly top-four contenders, but I don’t think they’ll win the title – I don’t think they’ll be able to progress that much this season but I think they’ve got a fantastic chance of getting towards that top four. If you think about where they were last year and the fact that they struggled to compete for a Champions League space that would be progression for Liverpool this season,” said Neville in his column on Sky Sports.

It is difficult to win the title from that position according to Neville. Liverpool are second in the table going into the weekend’s Premier league matches.