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.

Manchester United travelled to the White Hart Lane to play against Tottenham Hotspur at the beginning of December and even though the match was played already over 1 week ago, Andre Villas-Boas considers the final result to be unfair.

Both Tottenham and Manchester United have been under pressure after not making the start of the season that it was expected for them to make and now they have to make it up and not drop any further points.

Kyle Walker opened up a scoreboard at the 18^th minute and Rooney equalized it some moments later but Tottenham got back in the lead in the early stages of the 2^nd half but United managed to find the back of the net once more with Rooney taking a penalty kick after Danny Welbeck was brought down inside the penalty box but according to Andre Villas-Boas, he dived in order to get the set-piece.

Villas-Boas said: “It’s difficult, because Hugo doesn’t raise his hands – the ball is going to the side.

“Vlad Chiriches is also avoiding contact with the player and we have seen a couple of players have stood their leg out to collide with bodies of the other players.

“So I think it’s difficult. It’s a decision we have to accept.I think the referee wasn’t in a good position to decide the penalty. He sees it from too far off’’.

“When you stick a leg out, put the ball forward, you can easily collide with the opponent’s body so I think it’s a difficult call for the ref but an unfair decision.”

The penalty strike from Wayne Rooney allowed Manchester United to rescue 1 point which certainly is not the result David Moyes initially wanted but it’s much better than facing a defeat against Tottenham in their home-turf at White Hart Lane.

Danny Welbeck sustained a knee injury some weeks ago which has kept him in the sidelines with nothing else to do than sit and wait for the recovery to be completed. The process is getting better and better as he has now trained with the senior squad and was only inches away from being called up in Manchester United’s encounter against Fullham.

When asked to David Moyes about the condition of some of his players he said:

“Danny Welbeck has had a bit of fluid on his knee.

“He has trained a few days this week and he is certainly getting much closer to match fitness but he will not travel this weekend.”

Manchester United are also missing their star defender Nemanja Vidic who was absent in the Champions League encounter against Real Sociedad but the English club still came out on top with a narrow 1-0 victory.

With only 1 point separating them from the 2^nd place Bayer Leverkusen they will need everyone at their disposal to secure the advancement into the next round of the Champions League, including Danny Welbeck.

The young English attacker has been under-fire for quite some time now being overshadowed and left behind by the likes of: Wayne Rooney, Van Persie and the rising up comer Adnan Januzaj who has high expectations following his sensational debut, it’s going to be a hard road ahead of him if he wants to book a permanent place in Manchester United’s starting XI lineup.

Just how he has snatched his place in England’s XI lineup alongside Rooney and Sturridge he needs to do it once more but this time with Manchester United.