Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher pick the Premier League teams of the season so far and predict 2025 | Football news
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have selected their Premier League teams of the season so far and given their predictions for 2025.
Performance in the final Monday Night Football year – in which Manchester United was defeated by Newcastle – that Sky Sports pundits have picked their best XIs of the 2024/25 campaign so far.
Neville and Carragher also reflected on their predictions from the start of the season, now changing their picks for the Premier League champions, relegated teams and more from 25 May.
Read on to find out who they chose and why…
Gary Neville team of the season
“The left back with whom I struggled a lot. But Josko Guardiol scored four goals, is always a threat.
“He was the one who played consistently and if I was choosing a team now and thinking about building a back four, he would be the player I would put at left back.
“He’s a goal threat, he does a pretty good job at left-back. City are scoring goals from left, right and centre, I understand that at the moment. It’s not usual for them, it’s not usual for him.”
“Because William Saliba he plays right center back and he just outplayed him, I looked at the numbers this morning, he was one of the [him and Gabriel]. It hasn’t been the best start to the season for Arsenal, but defensively they are still strong and he continues to be outstanding. So he was an obvious choice to play with [Virgil] Van Dijk.
“The more I look Trent Alexander-ArnoldI think his defense has improved a lot. He has better intensity in defense, I’m not saying he’s perfect, but I think right now he has a far better attitude towards defense than I’ve seen before. I think he’s improved a lot over the last 12 months and I have to say what he does with the ball is outstanding.”
Jamie Carragher team of the season
“Nikola Milenkovic is almost like Van Dijk from Nottingham Forest. Gary took Saliba and you had a draw between Saliba and Gabriel for me. I was actually very close to putting Gabriel on the defensive record, but also because he is the most talked about defenseman in the league, based on what he does in the end zone. But I just feel what Nottingham Forest are doing defensively, a lot is about that.
“Hello Aina right and left back play. Every time I watch him he does that job on both sides, and every time I watch him I look at him and think he could play for a team that expects to be in the Champions League every season.
“The defensive side is what really impresses me so I felt like I had to put in two of their defenders.”
Predictions for 2025: Arsenal and Liverpool selected as PL champions
Neville on choosing Arsenal as Premier League champions over Liverpool…
“Liverpool are big favorites and in great form, but they still have a long way to go. Arsenal have been through the mill in the last few years, they’ve gone all the way and sometimes when you win your first title, it’s not going to happen in the most expected way.
“It seems to me that if Van Dijk gets injured, it’s a completely different story. If Arsenal can close the gap to six points on Wednesday, that could be reduced very quickly if Van Dijk [was injured] – he is such a huge player for them.
“They proved that they can live without Alisson, who was just as important a few years ago, but now with [Caoimhin] Kelleher backs him, they’ve got it covered. They have options for further – [Mohamed] Salah would be a blow because he is world class – but they are [Diogo] Iota, [Cody] gakpo, [Darwin] Nunez.
“And when they each score, they seem equally happy for each other and that’s a worrying sign for the others. They’re all buying into each other and there’s something going on between them as players.
“Things are going against Arsenal at the moment and they’re sticking with it. They’re the only team that can take it to Liverpool.
“Arsenal have a resilience against them, they have a back four that can hold it together and carry them through games and I think they will attack better in the next part of the season. If they can get close towards the end, they could chase Liverpool.”
Neville finishes fifth at Aston Villa…
“If Aston Villa are knocked out of the Champions League in February or March, Unai Emery is the guy who will really push them on at the end of the season and finish strongly to get to that fifth place.”
Carragher on Newcastle finishing fifth…
“Newcastle don’t have a European situation, they could go a bit further in the Carabao Cup. Villa just can’t really get going – they’ll win a game, then lose one or draw they should have won. Newcastle seem to be getting into the right form and when I look at their midfield [Alexander] Isak forward, he looks pretty special.”
Carragher at Nottingham Forest finishes sixth…
“Most people, even Nottingham Forest, would expect the teams we have in the top four to finish above them.
“They have a significant lead right now with only half the season to go. If they can come close to what they’ve done, they can really make it difficult for those teams.”
Carragher in the fight for survival…
“I’ve been worried about Leicester since Ruud van Nistelrooy came in, although some of the results were good and the performance was good against Man City. But Leicester missed a lot of chances and shots, big chances in all the games they played at Man City bar.
“Because they expect to stay up, sometimes there can be negativity and they’ve already changed managers. Ipswich won the third game of the season against Chelsea but there’s still a feel-good factor. If they have a few bad results, I won’t judge myself too much, while at Leicester audiences can become quite negative.”
