FANS say Gary Neville “is never wrong” after his England squad prediction came true.
The Three Lions face Brazil in an international friendly at Wembley on Saturday before then taking on Belgium on Tuesday.
However, England boss Gareth Southgate will now be without Arsenal star Bukayo Saka.
The 22-year-old arrived at the camp with an injury and has now returned to the Gunners for rehab ahead of his club’s crunch upcoming title showdown with Manchester City on March 31.
That is a move that Manchester United and England legend Neville eerily forecast during the latest episode of Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, that was filmed earlier this week.
He said: “I’ve got a good feeling that one of Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice or Phil Foden will pull out of the second England game in this break.”
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Neville later added: “The Arsenal players may not pull out of the England games because they’ve had an extra few day’s rest as they weren’t in the FA Cup.
“But there is a part of me that thinks they need to keep up momentum and continue playing, especially when England have two games against tough opposition in Brazil and Belgium.
“I think Harry Kane might pull out the second game. He might play one game or do a deal.
“We refer to it because of [Erling] Haaland and [Kevin] De Bruyne. I called it a couple of weeks ago – I said there’ll be pull outs in March, and straight away the two best players for City are out.”
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While Neville had forecasted that it would be the Belgium match that one of the big-hitters from the Gunners would miss, fans were still blown away by how right he was.
One person posted on X: “People seem to forget that Gary Neville won eight Premier League titles, among all the other highest honours.
“He knows ALL the tricks in the handbook of winning title races.”
Another wrote: “He’s been there seen this 100 times nobody knows title races better than this guy.”
While a third added: “He’s never wrong is he.”
Saka is not the only Arsenal player that will not feature in Saturday’s England match – Gunners defender Gabriel has also pulled out of the Brazil squad.
Neville was part of Roy Hodgson’s England staff for a number of years and explained why the March international break has always been difficult.
He added: “Obviously, I coached with Roy Hodgson for four years and when players pulled out when you knew they probably weren’t injured, you were furious. But that happened during our lives as well.
“The clubs are thinking, ‘We’re playing the players, we’ve got a run-in and we can’t afford to lose them. We’ve got Champions League football, which is massive to us. Or we’re getting a title, Champions League quarter finals or semi finals’. And that’s why there’s that push and pull.
“This March friendly is a bad one. It’s during a title run and Champions League games.
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“This one should be replayed somewhere, in my opinion, because you’re really thinking ‘club’ now, you’re not thinking about country.
“Country comes in sort of May, when the season’s finished and you’ve got a tournament.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
