Gary Neville makes Liverpool Champions League prediction after complete U-turn

The Reds have endured a miserable defence of their Premier League title this term, losing 10 matches and failing to keep pace with leaders Arsenal and title-chasing Manchester City.

Their hopes of making it into next season's Champions League have been boosted by the confirmation last week that the Premier League has been guaranteed a fifth qualification spot for next season, with the English top flight certain to finish in the top two of UEFA's coefficient table.

FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page

And their prospects were further increased after Rio Ngumoha and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 victory over Fulham on Saturday before Chelsea lost 3-0 at home to City on Sunday, opening up a four point gap between the two sides.

Chelsea were well beaten by Pep Guardiola's in-form side and Sky Sports pundit Neville now believes that it will be the west London club that misses out.

Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast via Sky Sports Premier League, he said: “I think [Chelsea are] going to have a difficult end to the season and it feels to me now like Chelsea will miss out on Champions League football.

“And a few weeks ago, I think they were in a spot whereby I thought Villa were in freefall and that Chelsea, Liverpool and United would get that third, fourth, fifth spot.

“I actually think now that Chelsea are going to miss out because of what’s happened in this last few weeks and where they’re at.”

Liverpool have six league matches left to play this season and are now in the driving seat to secure a top-five finish, but they face difficult away games against Everton, Manchester United and Aston Villa during the run-in

Home fixtures against Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Brentford complete their schedule, with the huge six-pointer against Liam Rosenior's side pencilled in for a lunchtime kick-off on May 9 at Anfield.

Arne Slot has been boosted by the return of record signing Alexander Isak to first-team action after he recovered from a broken leg and the Swede looked sharp in a second-half run-out against Fulham on Saturday.

The Reds will now turn their attention to this season's Champions League, however, as they attempt to overturn a 2-0 deficit against defending champions Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.

The French side were not in action over the weekend after they successfully got their crucial Ligue 1 fixture against title-challenging RC Lens postponed.

Liverpool could still qualify for next season's Champions League by winning this year's competition but if that is to become a reality, they must first produce a dramatic comeback against Luis Enrique's side in a similar vein to the famous 2019 outcome against Barcelona when Jurgen Klopp's side overturned a 3-0 first leg deficit to win 4-3 on aggregate before going on the lift the trophy in Madrid.