Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has often been a polarising figure for Liverpool supporters, with many waiting for a slip of the tongue to rub salt into the wounds. The Reds sit top of the Premier League going into 2025 and they will be looking to kick-off the new season with a win over fierce rivals United.

The Anfield faithful has had a lot more to rant and rave about in the last eight-to-10 years following the arrival and rise under Jurgen Klopp. The Red Devils have slowly faded, winning the Carabao Cup and FA Cup but often struggling in the English top-flight.

Liverpool take on Ruben Amorim's side in L4 on Sunday with the chance to extend their lead at the top, while United look over their shoulder with the threat of relegation just seven points away.

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Due to the amount of times the Sky Sports pundits feature as part of their coverage, every word that they say is documented and filed - in the event they are proven right or wrong. Following Neville's pre-season prediction on Liverpool, he has been made to eat humble pie by Arne Slot.

Liverpool will not finish in the top four - August 2024

Speaking after the first Monday Night Football, Neville believed that the Reds would finish outside of the top four at the expense of Arsenal, Manchester City, United and Chelsea.

The 49-year-old felt Jurgen Klopp's departure would have a significant impact on the newly-appointed head coach.

He said: "I think Liverpool, in my view, the impact of Klopp will take it's toll off previous history. With the evidence, a manager like that leaving, at some point there will be some pain for Liverpool and it'll cost him."

'I did feel Liverpool would drop off' - December 2024

"The only one that has let me down is Manchester United, everything else is spot on," he joked. "Liverpool, I thought they would have a real hangover after Jurgen Klopp leaving.

"Arne Slot has been the manager of the season so far, Nuno [Espirito Santo] is a huge contender but I did feel Liverpool would drop off.

"But for Liverpool to be so far in front, now favourites for the title is an unbelievable performance - I didn't expect that."

On Liverpool title hopes - December 2024

In pre-season, Neville tipped Arsenal to win the Premier League after years of heartache at the hands of Manchester City. Despite a seven-point lead at the top of the league for Liverpool, nine ahead of the Gunners, the former defender believes Arsenal could lift the trophy despite the Reds' favourite tag.

"I just think that sometimes they go through the pain. Look, Liverpool are massive favourites, they're in great form but there's still a long way to go.

"Arsenal have been through the run of the mill the last couple of years, they've gone to the wire and sometimes when you win your first title, it doesn't come in the most expected way.

"Things can happen. Van Dijk, that's the thing that sticks out, [if] Van Dijk got injured and it would be a completely different story. That six points [gap] that Arsenal can go to in a couple of days which could happen then would dwindle away quickly if Van Dijk [got injured]. He's such an immense player, they've proven they can live without Alisson but I think now with Kelleher backing him up, they've got him covered.

"They've got great options up front, Salah would be a big blow - he's world class - but Jota, Diaz, Gakpo and Nunez. The thing about Liverpool, when each of them score, they look as happy as each other, that's a worrying sign for the rest - they look like they're buying into each other.

"When you see someone score a goal, it looks like they've got something really going up there. Things are going against Arsenal [Saka's injury] at this moment in time, they're hanging in there but they're the only team who can take it off Liverpool.

"I'm surprised about Chelsea's defeats but I didn't think they'd win the league but Arsenal have got a resilience to them, a back four that can hold it together in games and I do think they'll attack better in the next part of the season. I think they'll hang in there and if they can just get close towards the end, they could hunt Liverpool down, that's what I'm hoping for."

'We don't know how Arne Slot will do' - April 2024

"I was surprised that came through yesterday, I was speaking to Jamie Carragher and Wayne Rooney about it - Jamie told me two different managers in a couple of months so it wasn't who he was expecting either.

"He's a successful coach in Holland, I love Dutch coaches but the change from the Dutch league to Liverpool is a very different approach to Jurgen Klopp. But I don't think they could really appoint one that has the personality and force of Klopp.

"Interesting. It's been driven by Michael Edwards and wanting a different type of approach. Maybe that's why Edwards left those years ago because of a clash with Klopp and the personality challenge - now he's got his own way and he's bringing in someone who will take Liverpool forward.

"We don't know how it'll go, we've seen the post-Wenger era has been difficult, post-Sir Alex Ferguson era has been difficult. Klopp is massive in Liverpool, they've got to try to get it right, we thought it was going to be Alonso then Amorim now it's Arne Slot. Maybe not number one, the fact of the matter is if you can't get number one, you move onto the list."

Praise for Arne Slot after Liverpool start - December 2024

"It's an unbelievable performance from Liverpool. Arne Slot, but everybody who appointed him, the people who've created the stability, the players - most of all - in the sense of getting behind him.

"It would have been very easy for those players to see Jurgen Klopp leave, their mentor for many years, they've done so much together to go [exhales], 'the new manager has come in, I'm not having this'. It's really incredible what we're watching.

"It's absolutely brilliant what Arne Slot has done and it gets really serious that it has gone from honeymoon period, great start to, 'hang on a minute, there's a real expectation [of winning the league]'."

Salah 'one of the top three in the world' - December 2024

"He's getting to that level where he is going to be at the top three, top 10 [players in the Premier League] depending on your view. It's staggering.

"You don't often see it, the robustness, the fact a player can play on the wing, score goals, make goals, never look like he's fading in games.

"Ronaldo and Messi did it for 10 to 12 years and we were blown away by those two. Salah, to be fair, sits there in third - absolutely unbelievable level of performance.

"If Liverpool were to win the league this season, he was to get two titles - a Champions League - that's the type of thing these players do, score, affect and impact games constantly. I remember his goal against Manchester City, cutting in from the right, when they were at their best - you don't score those goals if you're not world class."

Gary Neville in 'disbelief' over Mohamed Salah contract handling - November 2024

"Mo Salah at this moment in time is doing a brilliant job on the pitch, but he's also doing a very good job off the pitch.

"He's balancing. He isn't stupid enough to alienate himself from the fans because he recognises that would be very short-lived in Liverpool. So he's basically talking very fondly about the fans and how he loves the club and he's very passionate.

"But he's also, on the other side of it, sending a message to the hierarchy. He's even [avoided] alienating the manager, so [he loves] the manager, the fans and the club, but he's saying to the sort of sporting director or owners, he's applying a bit of pressure to them, which means the fans might [do the same].

"I think Liverpool will go to Mo Salah at some point. I don't know why they aren't communicating with him. I can't believe Liverpool wouldn't have done that.

"It would surprise me if Liverpool as a football club - with their experience of handling transfers and recruitment brilliantly for many, many years - haven't said to Salah's agent a few months ago or at the start of the season, 'shall we sit down after Christmas and look at this in January?'

"'We're both mature, we know you've got six months left, let's see how the season goes, see whether you're enjoying it, see whether we're enjoying it'. That would have been the smartest thing to have done."