‘He bottled it,’ squeals Gary Neville as Jamie Carragher gives updated Premier League title prediction

GARY NEVILLE mockingly excused Jamie Carragher of “bottling it” after the Liverpool legend sat on the fence with his updated title prediction.

With Arne Slot’s side five points clear at the top of the Prem, The Overlap cast were asked to reassess their predictions from the start of the season.

But Carragher was caught with his tail between his legs after failing to chose a winner come May.

He first argued that Arsenal were out of the running because they’re nine points behind Liverpool.

But then revealed that Man City, who Carragher picked at the start of the season, have a chance, and the know-how, to catch Liverpool.

His opinion that Liverpool share a 50-50 chance with Pep Guardiola’s out-of-form outfit, sparked animated laughter from the rest of panel.

Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football Podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, a boisterous Neville said: “So are you moving from City to Liverpool?”

Carragher replied: “No, no. What I’m saying is City can close the gap, they’ve won it before in the second half of the season.”

Before a high-pitched Neville, 49, teasingly interjected: “WHAT! Shut up stop talking. So who you going with?”

A red-faced Carragher, 46, doubled-down: “I said before it’s 50-50.”

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This sparked utter chaos from Neville, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, who were brave enough to pick a team, as they burst out screeching.

A jumping and throwing Neville said: “He’s bottled it! He doesn’t wanna say Liverpool are going to win the league.”

Keane and Scott bent down in laughter as an energetic Wright smacked the table.

Carragher turned to divert attention back to the discussion by shouting over them: “There’s no way that Arsenal can win the league.”

When repeatedly pressed for a precise prediction by pal Neville, Carragher finally reluctantly said: “I’ll stick with City.”

The discussion was sparked by a Sky Sport’s Instagram post that said Liverpool have a 60 per cent chance of winning the title.

The probability percentage gave City a 34 per cent of winning, while Arsenal have dropped to just a 4 per cent chance.

Carragher later explained that pundits shouldn’t feel pressure to always go with their first choice from the start of the season.

Meanwhile, Neville and Wright stayed with their Arsenal predictions because only “11 games have been played”, while former Lioness Scott and Keane remained with their picks City.

But Arsenal will need to be near perfect, with them already having lost two of their first 11 games this season.

The group then discussed the nine England stars who have pulled out of international duty this week.

Neville said: “Do we all agree that the England players are having it on a bit?”

Carragher replied: “100 per cent”, before Wright backed Bukayo Saka’s and Declan Rice’s integrity.

This comes after captain Harry Kane accused players of “taking advantage” of the unusual predicament of there being no full-time manager in post.

The 101-cap striker, 31, told ITV Sport: “I think England comes before anything. It comes before club and it is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer.

“Gareth was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if that started to drift from certain players.

“It’s a shame this week obviously. I think it’s a tough period of the season and maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.

“I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest. I think England comes before anything, any club situation.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk