Roy Keane left Gary Neville more than a little surprised with his prediction for Liverpool’s visit to Fulham on Sunday.
The Reds will be seeking to follow up their Merseyside derby win in midweek with a similar result at Craven Cottage this weekend, and they’ll go into the fixture knowing what Arsenal will have done against Everton the previous day.
As it stands, Arne Slot’s side are 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League with both them and the Gunners having 24 left to play for, leading many pundits to believe that the Merseysiders are too far ahead to be caught at this stage.
However, Keane believes there’ll be a twist in the title race this weekend which could make Liverpool fans a bit more uncomfortable about the subsequent seven matches of the season.
Neville left stunned by Keane’s curveball prediction
The ex-Manchester United captain was giving his predictions for the upcoming Premier League fixtures on The Overlap, and he’s predicting a final score of 2-1 at Craven Cottage on Sunday, but with Fulham being the team to emerge victorious.
Neville, who had initially been leaning towards an away win before plumping for a 2-2 draw, was left gobsmacked by his former teammate’s forecast as he responded off-camera: “Really?…Wow!”
While it wasn’t massively surprising to see two ex-Man United players tipping the Reds to drop points, so too did Jamie Carragher, who believes that the spoils will be shared in west London.
Can Liverpool find a way to win at Craven Cottage on Sunday?
Fulham have been enjoying an excellent season and go into the weekend just six points off fifth position, giving them an outside chance of finishing in the Champions League positions, but they’ve returned from the international break with defeats to Crystal Palace (3-0 at home) and Arsenal (2-1 away).
By contrast, Liverpool bounced back from their Carabao Cup final disappointment by winning the Merseyside derby and preserving the 12-point gap to the Gunners in second, and Slot hasn’t tasted defeat in the top flight since mid-September (against a Nottingham Forest side who currently sit third).
The Reds did need a late equaliser to salvage a point at home to the Cottagers in December, although that match was significantly skewed by the 17th-minute red card to Andy Robertson.
The Premier League leaders can expect a very difficult test at Craven Cottage on Sunday, with Marco Silva’s team strangely off-colour in their FA Cup exit to Palace last weekend, although this is the kind of fixture that title-chasing sides usually find a way to win.
Liverpool have been good at that for most of the season. If they can repeat the trick in two days’ time and make a mockery of the Sky Sports pundits’ predictions (Keane’s especially), a trophy-winning party at Anfield on 25 May would feel even more tantalisingly close to realisation.
The results of the match between Fulham & LFC will not impact on the title race as Arsenal can’t catch LFC in this season. It is just a wishful thinking that LFC will stumble and be caught by Arsenal. And it is not a foregone conclusion that Arsenal will beat Everton either.The only negative could be the prolongation of title snatching.
Fulham might well win points but they’re at home and won’t sit back like Everton. Robinson in particular will attack. Especially if Jones plays. Which I seriously doubt. Against Everton, it wasn’t much of a gamble because they had nobody on their left. Maybe he should leave Mo on the bench or this one. Robinson will relish playing against Mo, especially as he’s quicker.
What Everton did against LFC was a total disgrace, and I hope Arsenal do not suffer the same lack of
respect from some Everton players.
I do however feel that LFC will win at Craven Cottage, a narrow margin, but a win nevertheless.
As for Keane, he speaks crap like he used to play footy
Royal & Gary take it in turns to be “good cop” & “bad cop” over Liverpool! One will give begrudging complements while the other will offer “wishful” negativity! They are like two little children who pine for the cooky barrel, when theirs is painfully empty!
Who is Keane mystic meg lol
Keanio is pretty crap at predictions