Neville’s prediction for England squad comes out eerily true as fans say he’s ‘never wrong’
FANS say Gary Neville is “never wrong” after his England squad prediction came true.
The Three Lions take on Brazil at Wembley on Saturday before taking on Belgium on Tuesday.
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However, England boss Gareth Southgate will now have to make do without Arsenal star Bukayo Saka.
The 22-year-old arrived at camp with an injury and has now returned to the Gunners for rehabilitation ahead of his club’s upcoming title clash with Manchester City on March 31.
That’s a move that Manchester United and England legend Neville eerily predicted during the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky betwhich was filmed earlier this week.
He said: “I have a good feeling that Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice or Phil Foden will withdraw from the second match against England this break.”
Neville later added: “The Arsenal players may not withdraw from the games in England because they have had a few extra days of rest from not playing in the FA Cup.
“But there is a part of me that thinks they need to keep the momentum going and keep playing, especially when England have two games against strong opponents in Brazil and Belgium.
“I think Harry Kane might pull out the second game. He could play one game or make a deal.
“We refer to it because [Erling] Haaland and [Kevin] De Bruyne. I mentioned it a few weeks ago. I said there will be a withdrawal in March and straight away the two best players for City are out.”
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Although Neville had predicted it would be the Belgium game that one of the Gunners’ big hitters would miss, fans were still impressed by how right he was.
One person posted on
“He knows ALL the tricks in the handbook for winning title races.”
Another wrote: “He’s been seen there 100 times. No one knows title races better than this man.”
While a third added: “He’s never wrong is he.”
Saka is not the only Arsenal player who will not be present in the match against England on Saturday. Gunners defender Gabriel has also withdrawn from the Brazil squad.
Neville was part of Roy Hodgson’s England staff for a number of years and explained why the March international break was always difficult.
He added: “Obviously I coached with Roy Hodgson for four years and when players pulled out knowing they were probably not injured you were furious. But that also happened during our lifetime.
“The clubs think: ‘We’re playing against the players, we’re having a clash and we can’t afford to lose them.’ “We have Champions League football and that’s huge for us. Or we get a title, quarter-finals or semi-finals of the Champions League.” And that’s why there is that push and pull.
“This friendly match in March is a bad one. It’s during a title run and Champions League games.
“As far as I’m concerned, this should be played again somewhere, because you’re really thinking about ‘club’ and not country.
“Country starts in about May, when the season is over and you have a tournament.”
