‘I wouldn’t say it’s 50/50’: Gary Neville makes big Manchester City and Liverpool Premier League tittle claim

Liverpool are “dangerous” and could beat Pep Guardiola’s side to the Premier League title this season, believes Gary Neville, after watching Manchester City be held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace on Monday night.

City dropped points on Monday night as they drew 0-0 away at Crystal Palace. Pep Guardiola’s side dominated the game but could not find the breakthrough in south London, despite finishing the contest with 74 per cent possession and having 18 shots on goal.

The result leaves City just four points above Liverpool, while the Reds have a game in hand on Pep Guardiola’s side, and the two are set to do battle on April 10 at the Etihad in what could be a title decider.

And Neville admits he thought City would be well clear of Liverpool by now, but claims the signing of Luis Diaz, to complete an ‘absolute joke’ of a front five, could be enough to see them to the title.

“I wouldn’t say it’s 50/50, Man City do just edge it,” Neville said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“You think about where they were, AFCON, Salah and Mane going away for a month, I thought that City would be out of sight.

“You thought City were going to win the league at a canter and they’ve not done and that’s credit to Liverpool, credit to the players, the signing of [Luis] Diaz in January and the fact they’ve got a great manager who is able to drag that level of performance out of them week in week out.

“Liverpool have got five players up front who are an absolute joke. And Diaz, saw him for the first time live at the Carabao Cup final and I couldn’t believe what I was watching for a player who had just entered English football. He’s absolutely sensational.

“You’re talking about fine margins when you talk about these great sides who are going for the Premier League title.

“You’re not talking about massive differences between them. There’s nothing wrong with Pep Guardiola’s team, they played a brilliant game tonight. The one thing I would say though, if Liverpool play that game, they win that game because they’ve got better strikers. Better strikers in terms of scoring goals.

“They’re more ruthless finishers and there’s more of them, there’s five there I would all put my money on. But with City, they are like midfielders or wide players playing in those positions.

“Phil Foden could be a midfield player, but is playing centre-forward. Jack Grealish could be a midfield player, but is playing left side of three up front. You’ve got players in that team who are absolutely outstanding, they’re fantastic players, but they’re not the most ruthless and clinical.

“As brilliant as they are, and as great as they are, the difference at the end of the season could just be that Liverpool do have more strikers who are more clinical and are more suited to scoring goals.

“We’ve known that all season with City, the only thing that could let them down is that. City are top of the league, but they haven’t scored four times [in the league] this season. Liverpool have only not scored in a game once.

“At the end of the day, both teams are the highest level, and you’re talking about what is the difference between them? [Luis] Diaz has come in, in January, [Diogo] Jota, [Roberto] Firmino, [Sadio] Mane, [Mohamed] Salah, all there.

“Liverpool are going to score goals, Liverpool are on an unbelievable run. City could still win this league, no doubt, but that could be the difference.

“I think Liverpool are really dangerous,” he added, “You look at those five strikers they’ve got and you’re going into the last part of the season knowing that you can win an awful lot of football matches with those two up front. Whereas City don’t have that same luxury in attacking areas.”