Gary Neville believes Liverpool will mount a challenge for a top four place (Picture: Sky Sports)
Gary Neville believes Liverpool will still have a major say in the race for the top four after watching Jurgen Klopp’s side return to winning ways in the Merseyside derby at Anfield.
It has been a miserable few weeks for Klopp and a group of players who suffered traumatising defeats against the likes of Brighton and Wolves.
A home fixture against their local rivals, however, looked to arrive a the perfect time and could yet prove a turning point in what has been a largely miserable campaign to date.
Goals either side of half time from Mohamed Salah and January recruit Cody Gakpo hardly reflected the Reds’ dominance and they can look forward to Saturday’s crucial game against Newcastle with renewed confidence.
A win at St James’ Park would cut the gap to the last Champions League qualifying place to six points and with some of their big-name players on the verge of returning from injury, Neville feels it would be foolish to write off Klopp’s men with so many games remaining.
He told Sky Sports: ‘Everyone has talked about their form, their poor defending but they have missed players.
‘You put Van Dijk in that team, Jota on the bench along with Diaz potentially coming back, Firmino as well then it’s a completely different story.
Cody Gakpo scored his first Liverpool goal in the Merseyside derby win over Everton (Picture: Getty)
‘All of a sudden when you look at that league table it doesn’t look like they’re out of that reckoning for the top four.
‘I never thought they were out of it. I think at this moment in time Newcastle are having a little blip they’ve only won one in six and if they were to win that game on Saturday against Newcastle they’d be in a very strong position. They’d feel very confident and be difficult to stop.
‘The reason I’ve gone easy on Liverpool in the last few weeks is these players have been here for five years and built up so much credibility and trust in respect of how they’ve performed.
‘I’m not saying they can dip to the standards they have it’s obviously quite unacceptable to themselves let alone what we’re watching and what we’ve seen.
‘The reality is they will come again this season and will go on a run if they can the players into the team.’
MORE : Cody Gakpo speaks out on his best position after scoring first Liverpool goal against Everton
MORE : Mohamed Salah pays huge compliment to Liverpool teammate Stefan Bajcetic
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The Reds looked more like their old selves against Everton.
