Gary Neville admits he’s been left ‘stunned’ by Liverpool’s ‘unbelievable’ season – as Arne Slot’s side close in on Premier League glory after Everton win

Gary Neville admitted that he has been left stunned by Liverpool this season, describing Arne Slot’s side as ‘unbelievable’.

Liverpool beat rivals Everton 1-0 on Wednesday night courtesy of a goal from Diogo Jota.

The result saw Liverpool move 12 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League with eight games remaining.

United legend Neville stated that he felt Liverpool would experience a ‘drop off’ following the departure of Jurgen Klopp last year.

However, Liverpool have been hugely impressive and have won 22 league games so far this season, scoring 70 goals in the process – by far the most in the division.

Neville also dismissed suggestions that Liverpool’s defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final or their elimination from the Champions League could take any shine off their expected league triumph. 

Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: ‘I’m stunned at where Liverpool are. I don’t think we can rewrite history now and say because they lost the Carabao Cup final, because they’ve gone out of Europe, this is a half-disappointing season. This is an unbelievable season.’

Neville highlighted the differences between Klopp and Slot and stated that the latter deserves huge praise for the impact that he has made. 

‘To take over from Jurgen Klopp, a massive personality and character who in some ways was loved beyond words by Liverpool fans you just thought there was going to be a drop off. Everyone thought there would be a drop off, I certainly did. 

‘I thought there’s no way those Liverpool players would be able to react the same to a manager you’d been so used to.

‘Slot, because he’s the absolute contradiction of Klopp in terms of his composure, his smoothness, his calmness, he just seems to be  perfect in terms of what Liverpool needed this season and you’ve got to give it to everybody who appointed him but also to the manager and the players.’ 

Neville added that Liverpool will now know that they are nearly champions after overcoming Everton.

Neville said: ‘It wasn’t spectacular from Liverpool but that wasn’t the most important thing tonight, they were really professional, particularly after they scored the goal I thought they were outstanding. 

‘They’ve done that quite a few times this season where they’ve kept the ball really well, managed the game. Tonight they’ll go into that dressing room knowing they’re nearly there and it’ll be about making sure they don’t make mistakes now.’ 

Liverpool return to action on Sunday when they face Fulham away. 

Slot’s team need just 13 more points in order to be crowned champions.