Rio Ferdinand thinks Manchester United have enough to finish fourth in the Premier League this season.
Ferdinand as well as Michael Owen and Robbie Savage gave their predictions for the Premier League table for when the season ends.
Savage was in agreement with Ferdinand, but Owen thinks Antonio Conte has turned things around at Tottenham Hotspur enough for them to seal a place in the Champions League.
Former United defender Ferdinand believes United have too much in attack to miss out.
He said (via BT Sport): “There’s always hope (for United). There’s no one fighting for the top four who is standing out as the leading, consistent candidate, who can string five wins together or go unbeaten for 10 games. It’s up for grabs.
“No one — Arsenal, West Ham, Man United, Spurs especially — can say they have consistent performances and results to stake a claim. They’re all looking at each other going ‘I don’t know what they’re going to do but I don’t know what we’re going to do either’.
“I think Man United will get there. They’ll get the goals to win the right amount of games to keep them in the top four… but I can’t be overly confident about that.
“Against Burnley it was a Jekyll and Hyde performance. They came out for the second half and looked a completely different team.”
Who makes the Premier League's top four this season? 💭@rioferdy5, @themichaelowen and @RobbieSavage8 give their final standings from 1st to 7th… 🔮
Which one of these predictions do you think is the most accurate?#PLTonight pic.twitter.com/fWDVpun5lp
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 10, 2022
All BT Sport pundits in question picked the same top three in order: Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Savage added: “I’ve gone for United to finish fourth — if they start (Cristiano) Ronaldo every week. (Liverpool forward Diogo) Jota is getting lots of praise, rightly so, 17 goals. Ronaldo’s got 14 goals in a team that creates fewer chances.
“Where I think they’ll struggle is with playing a high line like Liverpool. I don’t think Manchester United can play a high line and win the ball high and press higher up because they’re scared of the pace in behind.
“That is a big problem for Manchester United. If they want to implement Rangnick’s style of pressing high and winning the ball in the final third, I think United might struggle.”
The problem here, in the race for top four, is that none of the teams are taking their chances. Look at Spurs on Wednesday night after we had drawn with Burnley. That was a golden opportunity to make ground on us in the league table but they threw it away against Southampton.
Owen said: “You can make a case fir any (of those four sides finishing fourth). It could literally be any of them. I’m going to go for Tottenham if they keep their big players fit.
“Kane is starting to get back to the Kane of old, if they can keep Son fit… Conte looks like he’s turning it around a little bit at Tottenham.
“It’s a toss of a coin. It’s going to be a great race for fourth, it’s going to keep us entertained. Let’s hope the title race is open as well until the end of the season. Any of those four, I could really argue but I’m just going to go with Tottenham.”
How underwhelming from Owen.
