'Don't mind owning it': Lineker admits he made a terrible prediction about Liverpool before the season started

01/03/2025 06:00 AM

Liverpool return to action in the Premier League on Sunday with an enormous game against Manchester United.

The Reds have won their past two games after consecutive draws and are continuing to open up a bit of a gap at the top of the table.

Arsenal are still lurking six points behind, though, and are showing signs that they are going to maintain the pressure on Liverpool.

As a result, it is crucial that the Reds better their result from last season and beat United at Anfield.

If they can do that, it will be another small step towards lifting what would be something of a surprise Premier League title.

One man who certainly did not see Liverpool’s dominance coming is pundit Gary Lineker, who has now owned up to making a terrible prediction about the Reds before the season kicked off.

Gary Lineker owns up to terrible Liverpool prediction

The position Liverpool find themselves in does owe itself at least a little to the form of the sides around them.

Bernardo Silva has ruled Man City out of the title race, while Arsenal have been patchy at times, too. But Liverpool have also taken 45 points from 18 games. This is no fluke.

So much of the credit has to be aimed towards Arne Slot. The Dutchman has hit the ground running like no other manager in Liverpool history.

And according to Lineker, none of he or his The Rest Is Football co-hosts saw Liverpool’s season coming.

READ MORE: Paul Merson makes 'biggest shock' claim ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash vs Man United

“Liverpool, I think one of the great surprises of the season really,” the pundit told Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

“I don’t think anyone in football predicted how they’d fly quite as high as they have. We all said top four. I did actually say ‘impossible for them to win the league’! But I don’t mind owning it, it’s okay!”

As Shearer and Richards laughed on in the background, Lineker attempted to justify his prediction.

“It’s a hopeless failure from me and I’m pleased to be wrong, because I honestly thought like perhaps Arsenal with Arsene Wenger, like Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson, when someone’s been at a club so long and been so dominant at that club, I just thought it would be incredibly difficult but boy oh boy what a job Slot’s done,” he said.

Still work to do for Liverpool

Although Lineker, Shearer and Richards all ultimately backed Liverpool to prove them wrong and lift the Premier League trophy this season, there is still such a long way to go.

Slot will not be patting himself on the back anytime soon and the Liverpool head coach will be encouraging the same from his players.

With Arsenal quietly going well, the Reds cannot afford to take their foot off the pedal even a little bit.

Any kind of dropped points will offer encouragement to the teams below them in the Premier League table and Liverpool must avoid that at all costs.

Of course, it can no longer be denied that the Reds are favourites to win the league this season. But this is anything but a foregone conclusion.