Rio Ferdinand has backed Liverpool to win the Premier League title this season, while also tipping Mohamed Salah for a top individual prize.

The Reds are of course in a superb position heading into 2025, having extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points before the turn of the year. Arsenal will have the chance to narrow the gap to six points later against Brentford, although Liverpool will still have a game in hand on its rivals.

With a place in the last-16 of the Champions League all but secure and a Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham to look forward to, there is a good chance that Arne Slot will mark his first season in charge at Anfield with some silverware, with the Reds heavy favorites to take the league crown.

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Former Manchester United defender Ferdinand has disagreed with his former teammate Gary Neville by tipping Liverpool to claim the Premier League title this season as he made his predictions for 2025 with TNT Sports.

He hasn’t backed the Reds to go all the way in Europe though, having predicted that Real Madrid will defend its title instead, despite Carlo Ancelotti’s team having already lost three Champions League games in the league phase - including a 2-0 defeat at Anfield.

Ferdinand though has tipped Mohamed Salah to win this year’s Ballon d’Or. The Egyptian has been in sensational form this season, having scored 20 goals and added 17 assists in just 26 appearances across all competitions.

Curiously though, Ferdinand hasn’t backed Salah to win the Premier League’s player of the season award, instead predicting that Chelsea’s Cole Palmer will win both the senior and young player of the year. He has also tipped Manchester City’s Erling Haaland to finish as the league’s top scorer, despite Salah currently sitting three goals ahead of him having played one game fewer.

And Slot also failed to get a mention for the manager of the season award, with Ferdinand instead backing Nottingham Forest’s Nuno Espirito Santo to win it if his side can keep up the form that has seen them climb up to second in the table at the halfway stage of the season.

Liverpool.com says: That’s a big if for Forest. They have done remarkably well this season, but it will be a big ask for them to keep up the sort of form they’ve been showing in the second half of the campaign.

As for Ferdinand’s other predictions, we’re not quite sure how Salah could win the Ballon d’Or yet be beaten to the Premier League’s player of the season. Surely the two should go hand in hand?