Gary Neville doesn’t think Newcastle United will claim a top four place and believes it’s now down to Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur.
Neville has suggested on the Gary Neville Podcast that Newcastle haven’t been playing well enough for weeks now.
Neville feels that Newcastle have been stumbling for a while now and their lack of goals is a major problem.
The former Manchester United defender noted that this isn’t a criticism though as he didn’t expect Newcastle to be in this position in the first place.
Neville noted that Newcastle’s ownership have been ‘quite measured’ since taking over the club.
Big money has been spent on Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon but Newcastle haven’t really gone for the truly huge names.
Neville thinks Newcastle still have a leap to make to get into the Champions League though and thinks fifth place would be an ‘unbelievable’ season.
“I said a few weeks ago that I didn’t think Newcastle were playing well enough, they were stumbling into games, not getting goals and I thought they would struggle to get top four,” said Neville. “But I never expected them to get into the top four at the start of the season, so I don’t feel that’s a disappointment or a criticism. If they finish fifth, that would be an unbelievable season for Eddie Howe and Newcastle in terms of how they’ve been quite measured, the new ownership, since they came in.”
“I think it will be Liverpool or Tottenham,” he added, ruling Newcastle out at this stage.
Newcastle United are running out of steam amid Gary Neville claims
The Magpies have been outstanding this season but recent form has been a concern.
Newcastle won seven out of eight games before the Premier League went into a break period for the World Cup.
Since returning from the World Cup, Newcastle have won just twice in nine league games.
The goals have really dried up for Newcastle; just three goals in their last eight Premier League outings.
Callum Wilson has gone off the boil and Newcastle are still waiting for Isak to really explode as a Premier League star.
Newcastle are only four points off fourth place and have two games in hand, so not all hope is lost right now.
Yet with Howe’s men really struggling to find the net of late, it’s hard to see Newcastle pipping Liverpool or Tottenham at this point.
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