At the start of every Premier League season, pundits make their predictions on how the campaign will turn out. Sometimes, they’re right, sometimes they’re horribly wrong – either way, we, rightly or wrongly, get to dissect it months later.
One pundit who was quite vocal before the season started was Jamie Carragher, and he was tipping Liverpool to win the Premier League.
The Reds, of course, came within minutes of winning the title last season, and Carragher said that he thought the Merseyside club would get over the line this time around because he believes that Virgil van Dijk would be back to his best.
Carragher’s Van Dijk prediction
The pundit said that Liverpool would win the league and Van Dijk’s return to form would be the difference.
“There was a point between them last season and I think that in the second half of last season Liverpool were the better team, while City were better in the first half, and they built that lead up. I think a lot had to do with the fact that Van Dijk wasn’t at his best in the first half of the season. I think Van Dijk being at his best gives Liverpool a real chance, it really does,” Carragher told 90Min.
Aged horribly
It goes without saying that Carragher got this call horribly wrong.
Not only are Liverpool nowhere near the title race, Van Dijk has regressed massively.
Not to be too harsh, but the Dutchman is probably enduring his worst run of form since joining the Reds. He’s lacking confidence at the moment, he’s nowhere near as commanding as he once was and that fear factor seems to be completely gone.
Carragher thought that Van Dijk would lead Liverpool to the title, but the reality is that he’s regressed and played his part in the Reds’ failings this season.
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