Speaking on Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville made their 2024/25 Premier League season predictions.
Champions
Jamie Carragher: Man City
Gary Neville: Arsenal
Jamie: “Going away from home on the first game of the season is always difficult, look at Liverpool at Ipswich in the first half. Man City go to Chelsea, whatever we say about them it’s still Stamford Bridge, they’ve still got big-name players, and they win.”
Gary: “My reasoning [for backing Arsenal] last year was that coming off the back of the treble for City might have an impact on them at certain points, the demands, the expectations, the injuries, but I think they won their last nine games, which is just special.”
Jamie: “Something that’s interesting about Arsenal, no team in Premier League history has improved their position five years in a row. Arsenal have done it four years in a row, and to go beyond where they did last year is going to be tough.”
Gary: “Arsenal had an incredible season so I was not a million miles away. They are getting nearer and I feel they will do it. Pep Guardiola wins all the time but I feel Arsenal are so consistent that this could be the year.
“Arsenal are getting to such a high level now of consistency, defensive solidity, the balance of the team, they look like they have got a great spirit.”
Jamie: “In the last couple of years, when they’ve gone for the league, they’ve gone out of the domestic cups and not got to a final in Europe. This group of players are good enough, and they should be winning a trophy this season.”
Second to fourth
Jamie Carragher: Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham
Gary Neville: Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea
Gary: “Chelsea could easily be an absolute mess. But the players Chelsea have got, I think they could have a good season.”
Jamie: “I think getting rid of the manager was a big mistake. Enzo Maresca is a young manager, really inexperienced, and I think it’ll be a tough job. They’ll battle it out for the European places, Newcastle and Aston Villa too. They haven’t got a goalkeeper!”
Gary: “I think Liverpool, my view would be that the impact of (Jurgen) Klopp will take its toll. The evidence of history. There will be some pain at some point this season and it could cost them.”
Jamie: “There’s areas of the Liverpool squad which need strengthening, but I love the fact they don’t panic. I really admire that. When I see the situation at Chelsea, I’d never want them to be like that.”
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Gary Neville believes Chelsea could have a good season but feels their recruitment is ‘chaotic and bizarre’
Fifth and sixth
Jamie Carragher: Man Utd and Aston Villa
Gary Neville: Liverpool and Tottenham
Jamie: “Manchester United have made some big mistakes in the past. They’re buying younger players now, but let’s not make out this is revolutionary. Sir Matt Busby was doing this in the ’60s! It’s not something special they should be lauded for. I think they’ll compete but miss out. I think Tottenham have the edge over them.”
Gary: “I think Liverpool have a better team than Manchester United, far better forwards. But I really do question whether that Liverpool midfield can stand up over the season. I think Manchester United have got more depth in midfield.”
European contender
Jamie Carragher: West Ham
Gary Neville: Newcastle
Jamie: “It’s a different style of football [at West Ham], maybe not completely different. But it’ll be about trying to get on the ball more, their recruitment this summer has been very good. They won a European trophy under David Moyes, so they’ve been there or thereabouts.”
Gary: “I just feel sometimes that the Champions League will take its toll on Aston Villa.”
Jamie: “Newcastle need to get a centre-back over the line, I love them and Eddie Howe and he’d be the next England boss if it was my choice. I think they’ll just miss out, as they did this year.”
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Leicester’s draw against Tottenham in the Premier League
Relegated
Jamie Carragher: Southampton, Leicester and Nottingham Forest
Gary Neville: Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester
Jamie: “I don’t want to see the three promoted teams go down, it’s not good for the Championship or the Premier League. Nottingham Forest have been close every season, and eventually the trapdoor opens.”
Gary: “I hope Jamie is right and Ipswich or one of the clubs stay up but I am not sure. I hope I am wrong.”
Jamie: “I suppose Ipswich are this season’s Luton, they’ve been away for so long. It’d be very hard to diminish their enthusiasm, but you could see that in the first half with Leicester. It was nothing new for them. The energy won’t be there every week at Portman Road, but if they go five or six games without a win I don’t think it’ll affect them too much. I think they might do enough.”
Top scorer
Jamie Carragher: Erling Haaland
Gary Neville: Erling Haaland
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester City
Impact signing
Jamie Carragher: Pedro Neto
Gary Neville: Dominic Solanke
Jamie: “I chose Pedro Neto because I think but for injuries he could play for the best teams in the world. I’ve watched him for Wolves and thought I’d love Liverpool to sign him.
“The only worry is that he’s best on the right, cutting in on his left, but that’s where Cole Palmer likes to play. I love to watch him, and I actually get down a bit when I hear he’s injured again. I’d love to see him stay fit, he’s one of the best players in the Premier League when he is.”
Player to watch
Jamie Carragher: Yankuba Minteh
Gary Neville: Jurrien Timber
Jamie: “I read a lot about Minteh over the summer about him coming back to Newcastle, but when I look at what they’ve got there, [Miguel] Almiron and [Jacob] Murphy, that lad, what he did [for Brighton] against Everton, that’s one Newcastle are going to rue letting go. He looks like the real deal.”
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Watch Premier League highlights between Everton and Brighton
Gary: “I was looking forward to Timber coming to Arsenal and adding defensive stability and they did that without him. He feels like a new addition and I am looking forward to seeing how he fits in.”
Manager to watch
Jamie Carragher: Arne Slot
Gary Neville: Erik ten Hag, Arne Slot and Enzo Maresca
Jamie: “I don’t think Liverpool supporters are expecting the world in the first season. They realise the situation he [Slot] is coming into, I think Liverpool replicating what they did last season would be enough.
“I was really impressed with a couple of things from the weekend. I was impressed with how decisive he was at half-time, he identified a problem and dealt with it.
“When I was watching Liverpool play out from the back, we’ve all played in those games on a dry pitch, the opposition are onto you.
“I liked what he said where he said you don’t need to keep playing short passes in those situations, you can go a bit longer. He’s the total opposite of Klopp, the crowd were chanting his name at the end and he shied away from it.”
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Jamie Carragher suggests Arne Slot has made a positive start to life at Liverpool by creating an obvious identity
Gary: “I cannot separate them because I think there is a story with all three. It is high stakes for all of them in different ways. A lot of people thought Erik ten Hag was gone but he is still there, renewed hope, squad stronger, feeling better but now he needs to deliver.
“Slot taking over from Klopp and how that is going to go, one of the greatest managers ever in the Premier League and stepping into those shoes has not gone well before when that has happened so there are eyes on him.
“Maresca is very young in his coaching career having to cope with the noise at Chelsea, the amount of players, the balance of the team, the youth of the squad, it is a big job.”
